Five people have been arrested following a shooting at the Mall of America—the nation’s largest shopping center—that had forced it to go into temporary lockdown and had killed a 19-year-old male, police said on Dec. 24.
SWAT team officers from three jurisdictions took the five into custody in the morning of Dec. 24, at a place in nearby St. Louis Park, Hodges said.
One of the 18-year-olds is believed to be the shooter, although another person may have also fired a weapon, Hodges said.
Meanwhile, a sixth suspect was still being sought.
“In Bloomington, if you come here and murder people at our mall, you get one of these at Christmas,” Hodges said as he held up an orange prison jumpsuit, reported the outlet.
‘Absolutely Unacceptable’: Governor
The shooting took place at the mall’s Nordstrom location around 7:50 p.m. local time on Dec. 23. Besides one death, a bystander was said to have had their jacket grazed by a bullet.The police chief had told reporters on Dec. 23 there was some kind of fight between two groups, and at one point, someone pulled out a gun and shot the 19-year-old multiple times, after which the people from the two groups fled the scene immediately.
Investigators think the fight is part of a longstanding feud between the two groups, even though the suspects themselves have so far refused to describe what happened, Hodges told reporters on Dec. 24.
Police said they have not yet identified the 19-year-old who died, but Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse and Hodges have spoken with the teenager’s relatives.
A police officer stationed at the mall that day had tried to resuscitate the victim but was unable to save him. The officer was one of 16 police working that day in the mall.
“The violence at [Mall of America] last night is absolutely unacceptable,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement posted to Twitter earlier on Dec. 24. “We are in touch with local officials to provide the support and resources they need.”
The Mall of America bans guns on the premises; however, there has been no requirement for visitors to go through screening via metal detections. The mall said in October it was testing a “weapons detection system” at one of its entrances.
The mall was placed on lockdown in August after a reported shooting sent some shoppers running for cover, and two people were wounded last New Year’s Eve during an apparent altercation.
