MINNESOTA – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) is calling for increased protection of Muslim students statewide after an incident with two students from Afton-Lakeland Elementary School, where a fifth-grader allegedly threatened to shoot a Somali-American Muslim third-grade student.

The fifth grader allegedly threatened the Muslim student on November 11.

On Nov. 14, the same boy reportedly brought an air pistol onto a school bus. He allegedly pointed the gun at the Muslim student and said “I will kill you.”

It was confiscated afterwards by the bus driver and police was notified, CAIR-MN said.

“Thankfully, a major tragedy was averted by the quick action of the school bus driver,” said CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein. “We are asking all school districts across the state to step up protection for Muslim and other minority students in the wake of this incident and because of the wave of racist and anti-Muslim incidents nationwide following the Nov. 8 election.”

Hussein added that an early response to bullying incidents can prevent further harm to students.

A spokeswoman for the Stillwater school district confirmed that an incident took place involving an air pistol but said she was unable to provide specifics because of data privacy laws that protect students.

CAIR-MN also is looking into other recent incidents involving female Muslim students who were allegedly assaulted and had their hijabs pulled at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids and St. Louis Park High School, Hussein said.

Although the case has been forwarded to the Washington County attorney’s office for possible charging, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said Tuesday that he did not believe it was an anti-Muslim attack.

“During the course of our investigation, there was nothing that led us to believe that this was a hate crime,” Hutton said. “There was a dispute between two kids during the previous week, obviously they don’t get along, and one pointed a replica gun at the kid and made statements.”