A shooting at the Mall of America in the Twin Cities on New Years Eve injured two. At this point the police are not believed to have a suspect in custody. The mall as well as the nearby Ikea location were in lockdown for a period of time following the incident.
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A protest allegedly over “occupying native land” erupted at the Mall of America on Black Friday. In video of the incident obtained by The Minnesota Sun, protesters can be heard banging native drums and chanting while standing in the mall’s rotunda.
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Gov. Tim Walz has proposed the use of incentives like shopping vouchers and fishing licenses for Minnesotans who receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Walz spoke at the Mall of America Wednesday at an event intended to encourage children to get vaccinated. Currently, 62% of the population aged 16 and older have received at least one round of the vaccine. The governor is hoping to grow that number to at least 70%.
Walz said some states are offering prizes that are “a little gimmicky,” when “what really gets people is knowing they can take the afternoon off, or if they’re not feeling good the next day, they’ll still get paid and their employer will let them.
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A Babson College professor was fired last week after joking on social media that Iran should target the Mall of America in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
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The parents of the five-year-old Minnesota boy who was thrown from a Mall of America balcony earlier this year said their son is back in school and “walking perfectly.”
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by Neetu Chandak The man who threw a 5-year-old boy over the Mall of America’s third-floor balcony in April was given a 19-year prison sentence Monday. Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty in May for attempted murder. The 40-foot fall left the boy, known publicly as Landen, with head trauma and broken bones. Landen and his parents did not appear in court Monday, but offered statements read in court by prosecutor Cheri Townsend, NBC News reported. “Your act was evil and selfish,” the boy’s father said in his statement. “You chose to listen to the worst parts of yourself that day. That is where your impact on us stops. You will take nothing more from us.” Aranda told investigators he was “looking for somebody to kill” on April 12 and was looking to kill another person at the mall, according to The Associated Press. He chose Landen when the previous plan did not “work out.” “God will judge you someday and I have peace with that,” his mother’s statement said, NBC reported. Prosecutors let go of an aggravated-circumstances component to the charge that could have made Aranda’s prison sentence 20 years instead of 19. Aranda could be on parole in 12 years if his behavior is good along…
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Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, the 24-year-old man who was “looking for someone to kill” when he threw a five-year-old boy from a balcony at the Mall of America, entered a guilty plea Tuesday that will send him to prison for 19 years. Aranda’s mother, Becky Aranda, however, told reporters outside the courtroom that her son doesn’t belong in jail and that he “needs mental help.” “He don’t belong in jail. He needs mental help. That’s what he needs. He don’t need to be in jail. He’s really sick,” she said. Aranda’s mom Becky Aranda said her son has mental health issues and should not be in jail, but he refused to see family to challenge case pic.twitter.com/klKpgHZ57i — Chao Xiong (@ChaoStrib) May 14, 2019 Mrs. Aranda also revealed that her son showed up at his sister’s house three nights before the incident and shoved her. “When she called me after midnight, she told me that he had shoved her, which is something he had never done before. She immediately called the police and explained to the police about his mental situation and that they needed to locate him immediately before he did something else drastic to somebody else,” she said…
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by Neetu Chandak A man who allegedly threw a 5-year-old boy over the third-floor balcony at the Mall of America near Minneapolis Friday was charged with suspicion of attempted homicide. Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, was quickly caught and arrested at the mall’s transit station following the attack Friday, The Associated Press reported. “Officers and witnesses located an injured five-year-old child on the first floor,” a release from the Bloomington Police said Friday. “The child was treated at the scene and then transported by ambulance to the hospital with life threatening injuries.” Neither the boy nor the family appeared to know Aranda, according to the police statement. A witness said he heard a woman screaming that her child was thrown off the balcony, WCCO reported. “‘She was screaming ‘Everyone pray, everyone pray. Oh my God, my baby, someone threw him over the edge,’” witness Brian Johnson said to WCCO when describing the scene. Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said Aranda was banned from the mall at one point. However, the trespassing notice was not in effect at the time of the incident, The AP reported. Aranda also held previous obstruction of the legal process/interfering with a peace officer, fifth-degree assault, trespassing and damage to property convictions. Potts added that Aranda had “other contacts in his…
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Ramin Parsa, a Christian pastor who was arrested at the Mall of America in August and charged with trespassing, was cleared of all charges during a court hearing Thursday. “Praise the Lord! The prosecution is suspended, no more criminal charges, pleaded not guilty. Thank you so much for your prayers. We have resolved the criminal case and the city is not going to prosecute me further, so the city is out of it,” Parsa wrote on Facebook. As The Minnesota Sun reported, Parsa runs Redemptive Love Ministries in Los Angeles, but visited Minnesota in August. While in the state, he took a trip to the Mall of America and ended up in what he has called a “random” conversation with two Somali women. As an ex-Muslim, he spoke with the two about his conversion to the Christian faith, and was reported to mall security by a passersby. He was subsequently arrested, taken to the basement of the Mall of America, and charged with trespassing. Parsa returned to Minnesota Wednesday evening ahead of his court hearing, and spoke at the Minnesota Capitol during a prayer rally hosted in support of him. “I’ve been through this before in other countries,” he said…
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A group of Minnesotans gathered at the State Capitol Wednesday night to host a prayer rally for Pastor Ramin Parsa, who was arrested at the Mall of America in August on charges of misdemeanor trespassing. As The Minnesota Sun reported in November, Parsa visited Minnesota in August and was invited by one of his hosts to see “the biggest mall in North America.” While there, Parsa said he “randomly ran into some Somalis, we had a random conversation.” “They asked me where I’m from. I told them and the conversation led to whether I was Muslim or not. I replied, ‘I used to be but I’m a Christian now,’” he said. Parsa claims that “another woman who was not part of the conversation went and complained to the security,” and he was ultimately charged with trespassing. Parsa, who runs Redemptive Love Ministries in Los Angeles, returned to Minnesota Wednesday evening ahead of his Thursday morning hearing. His supporters organized a prayer rally Wednesday night at the State Capitol where Parsa spoke about the religious persecution he’s experienced in other countries. “I’ve been through this before in other countries,” he said during the rally. “The only thing that made me sad…
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