Five people were arrested Saturday for the alleged murder of a 19-year-old at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
According to local police, three suspects were 17-year-olds and two were 18-year-olds. Police are confident that they have arrested at least one of the shooters, but there may have been a second gunman.
The shooting took place on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, around 8 p.m. and caused the mall to go into lockdown. The lockdown was lifted approximately two hours later.
A bullet grazed a bystander, according to police, but no other injuries were reported.
The mall was especially busy at the time as it was in the middle of the holiday rush.
There were 16 officers in the mall at the time, including one who was stationed near Nordstrom, where the shooting took place, and initially heard the gunshots.
Mall security footage captured an altercation between two groups of people when one man apparently took out a gun, firing multiple shots at the victim.
It is not clear what led to the initial altercation between the two groups.
Members of the New York Giants, who were in town to face the Minnesota Vikings, were reportedly in the mall at the time.
“Your first thought is, obviously, once yourself is safe, you think about your teammates,” wide receiver Darius Slayton told NBC. “There’s guys that could have been shopping. Some guys in their room, some people are everywhere. So, obviously, your next thought is all your teammates are OK, which they were.”
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said no motive can be determined at this time, and the suspects were being uncooperative.
“We know the how, the where, the what and the who, we don’t know the why,” Hodges told reporters.
Hodges said that a group of between five and seven people fled the mall after the shooting took place. He stressed that his thoughts were with the families of the victim, who now had to “bury one of their loved ones.”
“They’re in pain, and rightfully so, and for something that should not have happened,” Hodges said.
The shooting in Minnesota parallels a perseverent issue in violent crime in Dallas, as well as across the DFW metroplex, where citizens have voiced concerns that authorities are failing to ensure public safety and enforce the law. Refer to reporting by The Dallas Express for up-to-date coverage of these issues.
