WAITE PARK -- Several Waite Park police officers and fire fighters were honored Wednesday night during a special city council meeting.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis presented 5 police officers and 3 fire fighters a Certificate of Appreciation for their assistance in the Crossroads Mall stabbing incident last year.

Officer Preston Voigt says when he looks back at that night, he realized how well his training prepared him.

"It went as well as it could have. For how crazy it was, you can't really plan for that but everyone did their job well. The St. Cloud metro has some great well trained officers and first responders," says Voigt.

The police officers honored include:
- Sgt. Pat Grossback
- Officer Jason Thompson
- Officer Tony Reznicek
- Officer Joanna Bigler
- Officer Preston Voigt.

Officer Tony Reznicek says while he appreciates the honor, his job isn't about recognition.

"I don't see what I did as being heroic. Ultimately I'm not here to get things, I'm here because it's an honorable job to do," says Reznicek.

Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud says it was the collaboration with the surrounding agencies that help make situations like the mall incident easier to contain.

The fire fighters honored include:
- Jim Aleshire
- Cody Backers
- Brian Labuda

Fire Chief Jim Aleshire says there were about 20 fire fighters who responded to the mall that night, however only those three could attend Wednesday's ceremony.

Thirteen different agencies – 126 different people – responded to the Crossroads mall on September 17th, 2016. Ninety-five separate 911 calls were made regarding the mall stabbings incident.

The case is completely in the hands of the FBI now.

(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
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