VIDEO: Shooting At Mall Of America In Bloomington, Minnesota
VIDEO: Shooting At Mall Of America In Bloomington, Minnesota
Police: Mall of America on lockdown after reported shooting
A teenager was killed Friday in a shooting at the Mall of America that sent terrified shoppers at the nation’s largest mall into lockdown just before the holiday weekend, according to the police.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told that the victim was a 19-year-old man. A spectator jacket also backfired by a bullet during the shooting at the Nordstrom mall.
There seemed to be some type of altercation between the two groups, and at one point somebody pulled out a gun and fired the victim multiple times, the chief said. The entire happening lasted about 30 seconds.
Hodges advised the shooter and others involved in the fight to turn themselves in to the police.
“We’re going to get you, we’re going to lock you up and you’re going to get an orange jumpsuit,” he said. “It’s just a matter of when it will happen.”
He also warned people against helping suspects evade arrest.
“If somebody’s going to help these people – I mean buy them a Happy Meal, give them a ride,” said a visibly upset boss. “We’ll lock you up with them.”
The mall is expected to reopen Saturday, but the Nordstrom store will remain closed, Hodges said.
Since its opening in 1992, the mall has been a traveler’s destination and community assemblage place. It bars guns on the premises, but customers generally don’t have to go through metal detectors. The mall said in October that it was testing a “weapon detection system” at one of its entrances.
Hodges said the mall is continually evaluating its security measures, including the possibility of adding metal detectors. Still, the chief added, “If we have an incident where someone decides they want to pull out a gun and shoot someone with complete disregard for human life, then I still don’t know what we can do to prevent that. “
Police have not identified the man who was killed, but Hodges said he and Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse spoke with relatives of the victims Friday night.
“The family here — I feel really sorry for them,” Hodges said. “Their last week before Christmas and now they have to bury one of their loved ones.
Mall surveillance video showed an argument between two groups — estimated to be five to nine people — erupted into a fistfight before one person pulled out a gun and opened fire, the chief said.
“We don’t know why it happened or what happened,” Hodges said.
A nearby Bloomington police officer — one of 16 stationed at the mall Friday — heard gunshots around 7:50 p.m. The policeman tried to save his life, but the victim died.
The lockdown lasted about an hour before the mall tweeted that shoppers were being sent outside. Videos posted on social media showed shoppers hiding in stores, and a notice at the mall warned people to take cover. Some videos show shoppers running for cover after a loud bang is heard.
The reported shooting comes as malls and shopping centers across the U.S. see an influx of customers just days before Christmas.
Jenny Hefty of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and her 16-year-old daughter had just stepped off the escalator to the second floor of the mall, outside the Nordstrom store, when people started running toward them and screaming. Her daughter thought she heard gunshots, even though Hefty didn’t.
“At first we thought they were just messing around,” she told The Associated Press on Friday night. “It was like ‘why are all these kids running around us?'”
Retailers began closing their doors and her husband told them to run as armed guards rushed to Nordstrom, where Hefty had tried on perfume about 20 minutes earlier.
The trio rushed to their hotel in the mall complex and frantically tried to reach the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, 21-year-old son and their friends on cellphones. They were locked in stores or herded to safer places when the mall went into lockdown.
The family, who often travel four hours to the mall, were in town Saturday for the Minnesota Vikings’ football game against the New York Giants.
“Obviously we wanted to come in early and do some Christmas shopping,” Hefty said.
The Giants were staying in a hotel adjacent to the mall. Pat Hanlon, the team’s executive vice president of communications, said he believes some players were at the mall at the time of the shooting.
“Everybody’s back at the hotel and they’re dealing with it now,” Hanlon said Friday night.
The mall was locked down in August after a shooting at the suburban Minneapolis shopping complex sent several shoppers scrambling and two people were injured during an apparent altercation last New Year’s Eve.
Representatives for the city of Bloomington and Nordstrom did not immediately return requests for comment.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Police in Minnesota say the Mall of America is on lockdown after a reported shooting.
The Bloomington Police Department said Friday that police and emergency medical crews were on the scene of a “reported shooting” at the mall. Police said the mall was locked down.
Videos posted on social media showed shoppers hiding in stores. The reported shooting comes as malls and shopping centers across the US see an influx of shoppers just days before Christmas.
The Mall of America confirmed the lockdown on its Twitter account and asked customers to stay at the “nearest safe location.”
Representatives for the city of Bloomington and the Mall of America did not immediately return requests for comment
Breaking: #Shooting At #MallOfAmerica In #Bloomington, #Minnesota Shots Heard From The Inside Of #Nordstrom First Level Officers Are Checking For A Possible 2nd Gunshot Victim The Mall Is Reportedly Being Locked Down Two Suspects #Bloomington | #Minnesota
