Stranger Charged With Attempted Homicide After Throwing 5-Year-Old Boy Over Third-Story Balcony At Mall Of America

A man who allegedly threw a 5-year-old boy over the third-floor balcony at the Mall of America near Minneapolis Friday was charged with suspicion of attempted homicide.

Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, was quickly caught and arrested at the mall’s transit station following the attack Friday, The Associated Press reported.

“Officers and witnesses located an injured five-year-old child on the first floor,” a release from the Bloomington Police said Friday. “The child was treated at the scene and then transported by ambulance to the hospital with life threatening injuries.”

Neither the boy nor the family appeared to know Aranda, according to the police statement.

A witness said he heard a woman screaming that her child was thrown off the balcony, WCCO reported.

“‘She was screaming ‘Everyone pray, everyone pray. Oh my God, my baby, someone threw him over the edge,’” witness Brian Johnson said to WCCO when describing the scene.

Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said Aranda was banned from the mall at one point. However, the trespassing notice was not in effect at the time of the incident, The AP reported. Aranda also held previous obstruction of the legal process/interfering with a peace officer, fifth-degree assault, trespassing and damage to property convictions.

Potts added that Aranda had “other contacts in his criminal history that are in other cities” in a Saturday press conference.

Bloomington Police did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.