19-Year-Old Dead After Shooting at Mall of America: Police

Two first responders and an ambulance are seen after reports of shots fired at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Dec. 23, 2022. Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP

Police have confirmed that a 19-year-old male teenager has been killed during a shooting at the Mall of America in Minnesota on Friday.

The shooting occurred at the mall’s Nordstrom location around 7:50 p.m. local time and lasted about 30 seconds, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told a late night news conference.

He said there was some kind of fight between two groups and at one point, someone pulled out a gun and shot the 19-year-old teenager multiple times. After the shooting, people in the groups fled the scene immediately.

Besides the death, a bystander’s jacket was grazed by a bullet.

Hodges called on the shooter and the others involved to turn themselves in to police.

“We are going to catch you, we are going to lock you up and you are going to get an orange jumpsuit,” he said. “It’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”

He added: “If anybody helps these people, I mean so much as buy them a Happy Meal, give them a ride ... We’re going to lock you up with them.”

Mall on Lockdown

Bloomington Police, at 8:17 p.m. local time, announced on Twitter that the mall was on lockdown and told the public to stay out of the area.

By 9:10 p.m. local time, Mall of America announced on Twitter that it was lifting the lockdown. “Guests should now exit the property. Mall of America remains closed for the evening,” the announcement reads.

Hodges told reporters that the mall, which is the nation’s largest shopping center, is expected to reopen on Saturday, but the Nordstrom store will remain closed.

The police chief shared that he and Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse had spoken to the relatives of the victim.

“The family here, I really feel bad for them,“ Hodges said. ”Their last week before Christmas and now they’re having to bury one of their loved ones.”

Surveillance video at the mall showed an estimated five to nine people were involved in a fistfight before someone pulled out a gun and shot at the victim, Hodges said.

He said that a nearby Bloomington police officer who was stationed at the mall that day had heard the gunshots around 7:50 p.m and tried to resuscitate the victim before the victim died.

“We had 16 officers working today in the mall. Sixteen cops,” Hodges told reporters, according to Star Tribune. “And they still decide to do this. I’m at a loss.”

Since it opened in 1992, the mall has been a tourist destination and community gathering spot. It bans guns on the premises, but shoppers have generally not been required to pass through metal detectors. The mall said in October it was testing a “weapons detection system” at one of its entrances.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.