Funviralpark A 19-year-old girl from St. Paul was the victim of a shooting between two groups of young people in Nordstrom, the Mall of America shooting just before Christmas Eve.
Ja’Nayea Hudson, 22, said Johntae “was the most loving and caring person to his family and friends. He radiated positive, fun energy and brightened up the room with his smile.” . She said he was “a great person overall” and that the family wanted him to “give him the funeral he deserved.”The GoFundMe.com request was made just after 3:30 p.m. Received more than a dollar.
Bloomington police arrested five people in the shooting on Saturday, and Chief Booker Hodges said all will be charged with second-degree murder on Tuesday. The shooting occurred late Friday night at Nordstrom, where Christmas shoppers were doing last-minute shopping. The Mall of America then put him in a one hour lockdown.
Five teenagers were arrested by SWAT officers at their home in St. Louis Park. Two he was 18 and three he was 17, Hodges said. He said one of his older men had fired the gun, but another man may have also. Police were still looking for a sixth suspect.
Hudson tearfully told KARE-11 TV on Christmas Eve that he had come to her room to greet her and her son before leaving for the mall. “He was funny, sometimes quiet…everyone loved him.
She told KARE-11 that she planned to go to the mall to find shoes to match her sweater for a friend’s birthday gathering, and was trying to avoid a certain group of young men. but he was trying to get away from it all.”
Police said the two groups of youths had a violent brawl before the shootout at the mall’s main tenant, Nordstrom. However, police have not explained any connections or points of contention between the groups.
“At first I thought it was a small gunshot wound or something. I didn’t think anything too serious until they said they were trying to find a pulse, so I assumed the worst. But it’s great,” Hudson told KARE-11 of receiving a call that his brother had been shot.
She urged the others, “The wrong crowd will lead you to ruin, so stay away from the wrong crowd.”
Over the past year, gun incidents have been a concern at this shopping mall, one of the state’s major tourist destinations.
Last New Year’s Eve, a man was shot in the leg and another was grazed by a bullet on the third floor of the mall. The 18-year-old later confessed to the shooting, telling police that before opening the shot he was trying to escape his pursuers who were angry with him about the previous incident.
Months later, the mall was locked down for two hours when a dispute between two groups of people ended in several shootings outside a Nike store. No injuries have been reported. A few weeks later, he was tackled and arrested by authorities after a man armed with a long gun robbed his Lids store in the mall.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
