Family of boy thrown from Mall of America balcony sues shopping center, alleging security failures
The family of a boy who was thrown off a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America in 2019 alleged in a lawsuit that mall security failed to thoroughly investigate their son's attacker when he displayed suspicious activity there the day before the incident.
The boy's family filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court against the Mall of America and its owner, noting that their son, identified in the lawsuit as L.H. and known publicly as Landen, who was 5 at the time, suffered severe injuries that has caused a deterioration of his memory, "adaptive skills, and academic performance."
The April 12, 2019 incident shocked the community and made national news.
According to the lawsuit: The boy's attacker, Emmanuel Aranda, was at the mall for more than two hours the day before the attack. Mall surveillance video captured him between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Aranda spent most of that time near the third-floor balcony where the boy was attacked the next day.
A mall security officer spoke to Aranda as he stood on a balcony and looked over the railing.
"Despite concerns sufficient enough to send a security officer to speak to Aranda that day, the security officer spoke with Aranda for less than a minute," the lawsuit said. "And, despite concerns sufficient enough that the officer continued to observe Aranda for another ten to fifteen minutes, while he leaned up against the railing and observed people walking by, she never asked his name. Thus, Mall Security never checked Aranda's name against its records to discover whether Aranda had any prior incident at the Mall."
Mall security failed to thoroughly investigate Aranda, and therefore did not connect him to his previous "violent, aggressive, and erratic" behavior at the mall.
Aranda was banned from the mall twice in previous years, the lawsuit said.
The next day, Aranda returned to the mall about 9:42 a.m. and tucked his jacket away near a third-floor balcony. Within minutes, mall security recovered the jacket, which contained Aranda's identification, but failed to connect the jacket with the man they questioned the previous day.
"Instead, Mall Security allowed Aranda to again proceed to the third level and spend approximately 30 minutes loitering suspiciously there, peering over the balconies, and standing near the Rainforest Cafe," the lawsuit said. "He prowled the third floor unconstrained until he snatched [the boy] and threw him over the balcony railing."
The boy's mother had brought him to the mall after parent-teacher conferences that morning, the lawsuit said.
"A late winter storm had dumped over five inches of snow on Bloomington, and the metro area was frigid with blowing snow," according to the lawsuit. "The Mall offered a warm and inviting place indoors to celebrate [the boy's] completion of a school year milestone."
Aranda was at the mall that day looking for someone to kill because he was angry that women at the mall had rejected his attempts to talk to them, according to criminal charges filed against him.
Aranda, 26, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and is serving a 19-year prison term. He is expected to be released from prison 2031.
The boy suffered extensive and permanent injuries to his brain, face, arms, legs and internal organs, the lawsuit said. His surgeries, tests, therapies and other medical treatments cost more than $1.75 million.
The boy's family is alleging that the mall was negligent and caused harm to the boy and emotional distress to his mother, who was an arm's length from her son when he was attacked.
They are asking for monetary damages to cover the boy's medical expenses and future care, pain and suffering, the boy's loss of future income, and his mother's mental anguish, among other costs.
Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708
Twitter: @ChaoStrib
