A shooting at the Mall of America kills a 19-year-old

a A teenager was killed in the shooting America Shopping Mall That prompted panicked customers at the country’s largest shopping mall to close down just before the holiday weekend, police said Friday.

Booker Hodges, Bloomington Police Chief He said the victim was a 19-year-old man. A passerby’s jacket was also hit by a bullet during the shooting at the Nordstrom mall location.

The chief said there appeared to be some sort of altercation between two groups, and at one point, someone pulled a gun and shot the victim multiple times. The whole incident lasted about 30 seconds.

Hodges urged the gunman and others involved in the fighting to turn themselves into police.

“We’ll arrest you, we’ll detain you, and you’ll get an orange jumpsuit,” he said. “It’s just a matter of when that will happen.”

He also warned citizens to help suspects avoid arrest.

“If anyone helps these people—I mean as much as buying them a Happy Meal,” said the visibly angry chief, “give them a ride.” “We will lock you up with them.”

The mall is expected to reopen on Saturday, but the Nordstrom store will remain closed, Hodges said.

Since its opening in 1992, the mall has been a tourist destination and community gathering place. Firearms are prohibited on the premises, but shoppers are generally not required to pass through metal detectors. The mall said in October it was testing a “weapon detection system” at one of its entrances.

Hodges said the mall is constantly evaluating its security measures, including the possibility of adding metal detectors. However, the president added, “If we had an incident where someone decided they wanted to pull out a gun and shoot someone with disrespect for human life, I still don’t know what we can do to stop that.”

Police did not identify the man who was killed, but Hodges said he and Bloomington Mayor Tim Posey spoke to relatives of the victim Friday night.

“The family is here – I feel really bad for them,” Hodges said. “It’s the last week before Christmas and now they have to bury a loved one.”

Video surveillance at the mall showed that the scuffle between the two groups — estimated at five to nine people — broke out into a fistfight before someone pulled out a gun and opened fire, the official said.

“I don’t know why or what happened,” Hodges said.

A nearby Bloomington police officer — one of 16 stationed at the mall on Friday — heard the shots around 7:50 p.m. The officer attempted life-saving measures, but the victim died.

The closure lasted for about an hour before the mall tweeted that shoppers were being sent outside. Videos posted on social media showed shoppers hiding in stores, and an advertisement in the mall warned people to seek shelter. Some videos show shoppers running for cover after hearing a loud bang.

The reported shooting comes as malls and malls across the US see an influx of customers just days before Christmas.

Jenny Hefty of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and her 16-year-old daughter had just stepped off the elevator to the second floor of the mall, in front of a Nordstrom store, when people started running towards them and screaming. Her daughter thought she heard gunshots, though Hefty did not.

“At first we thought they were just messing around,” she told the Associated Press Friday night. It was like, ‘Why are all these kids running right next to us? “

Retailers began closing their doors and her husband told them to run as armed guards rushed toward Nordstrom, where Hefty had been trying perfume about 20 minutes earlier.

The trio raced to their hotel in the mall complex and frantically tried to reach the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, 21-year-old son, and their friends on their cell phones. They were either locked inside stores or moved to safer locations as the mall was closed.

The family, who often commute four hours to the mall, was in town for the Minnesota Vikings football game against the New York Giants on Saturday.

“Of course we wanted to come in early and do some Christmas shopping,” Hefty said.

The Giants were staying at a hotel adjacent to the mall. Pat Hanlon, the team’s executive vice president of communications, said he believed some players were in the mall at the time of the shooting.

“Everyone’s back at the hotel and set up their accounts for the time being,” Hanlon said Friday night.

The mall was closed in August after a shooting at a shopping complex in suburban Minneapolis sent some shoppers running for cover and two people were injured last New Year’s Eve during what appeared to be an argument.

Representatives for Bloomington and Nordstrom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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