Man Charged with Attempted Homicide for Allegedly Throwing Child Off 3rd Floor of Mall of America

Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, was charged Friday with attempted homicide for allegedly pushing or throwing a 5-year-old boy from the third floor of Minnesota’s Mall of America.

The Bloomington Police Department responded at 10:17 a.m. local time to reports that a child had fallen from the balcony. Upon arrival, officers learned that the child had in fact been pushed or thrown. Witness Brian Johnson told WCCO-TV that he heard a woman screaming about her child being tossed from the balcony. He said the woman cried out, “Everybody pray, everybody pray. Oh my God, my baby, someone threw him over the edge.”

Aranda was arrested at the mall’s transit station shortly after the incident thanks to fast-acting security, said Bloomington Police Chief Jeffrey Potts in a press conference Friday. “This is a horrific situation,” Potts told reporters. He said the boy fell nearly 40 feet and is still being treated for injuries. Aranda is not known to the victim or his family.

According to court records, Aranda was previously convicted of misdemeanor offenses. In 2015, the suspect was charged in two incidents at the 4.2-million-square-foot shopping center that were handled in a mental health court.

KSPR reports:

Aranda was arrested on July 4, 2015, after police said he matched the description of a man throwing things off the upper level of the Mall of America to the lower level. Police say Aranda refused to give his name and resisted arrest. Aranda also was accused of walking into a mall store and sweeping his hand across a display table, breaking glasses.

In October 2015, Aranda was accused of throwing glasses in Twin Cities Grill in the mall. The complaint says Aranda approached a woman who was waiting for the restaurant to open and asked her to buy him something. The woman refused, and Aranda allegedly threw a glass of water in her face and a glass of tea that struck her leg. Aranda was under a trespass notice at the time banning him from the mall until July 4, 2016.

Police say they do not have any clues as to what the suspect’s motive was. “At this point we believe this is an isolated incident,” Potts said. “We’re actively trying to figure out why this occurred.”