Second man arrested in Mall of America shooting in Minnesota
Jan 5, 2022, 6:51 AM | Updated: 4:44 pm
People wait near an exit to be picked up from the Mall of America following a shooting, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, in Bloomington, Minn. Two people were shot and wounded following an apparent altercation at the Mall of America Friday, sending New Year's Eve shoppers scrambling for safety and placing the Minneapolis mall on temporary lockdown, authorities said. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
(Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been arrested in a shooting at the Mall of America in a Minneapolis suburb last week that left two people wounded, police said.
The 18-year-old St. Paul man was arrested in nearby Roseville, Bloomington police said Tuesday. He was being held on a possible charge of first-degree assault and a firearm was recovered, a police statement said.
Officers arrested another St. Paul man in Roseville on Sunday afternoon on suspicion of aiding assault, but Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t charge that man. Freeman said it appeared the shooter “acted independently.”
One man was shot in the leg on the third floor of the mall around 4:30 p.m. Friday and another man was grazed by a bullet, police said. The man shot in the leg was taken to a hospital and the other man was treated at the scene.
Shoppers ran for cover and the mall was evacuated until the lockdown ended about 45 minutes later, according to a mall official.
Deputy Bloomington Police Chief Kim Clauson said the shooting did not appear to be random.
“It does appear there was an altercation between two males before the shot was fired,” she said.
Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse said most of the people he’s heard from praised law enforcement’s prompt response, the Star Tribune reported. But he also has heard a number of comments online from customers who felt they were left in the dark about the lockdown.
“The fact that it was New Year’s Eve and the number of people who were there, the time of day, I don’t know what it might have added to the confusion,” Busse said.
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