By Megan Olson
The GoFundMe page for the victim, 5-year-old Landon, raised $276,000 in a matter of 10 hours by 8,089 people. The Minnesota community is rallying behind this little boy who is currently fighting for his life, undergoing numerous surgeries.
The event occurred at 10:17 AM at the southeast corner of the mall. Aranda either threw or pushed the 5-year-old Boy off the third story balcony where he fell just under 40 feet. He was immediately rushed to Children’s Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Aranda was later taken into custody at the Blue Line light rail stop at the Mall of America (MOA). Aranda also had an active warrant out for his arrest out at this time, stemming from a 2017 assault case in Hennepin County.
Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda has a lengthy and toxic history with the law, and more specifically with the MOA. In July of 2015, he was ordered a trespass notice from MOA. Ignoring that notice, in October of that year, he returned to MOA where he was later arrested. At this time he earned 6 separate charges for harassing two women at Twin City Grill, breaking glasses in the process and resisting arrest.
In August of 2015, Aranda earned a felony for 1st-degree damage of property after he reportedly got upset after seeing something on Facebook and damaged 5 computers at the Hennepin County Sumner Library.
MOA is no stranger to incidents like these. In 2017, Mahad Abdiaziz Abdiraham stabbed two brothers in a Macy’s dressing room as an act of allegiance to the Islamic state. In 2015, the mall had to undergo heightened security after the al-Shabab extremist group called for its attack.
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