Man Who Threw 5-Year-Old Off Mall of America Balcony Was ‘Looking for Someone to Kill’: Cops

A Minneapolis man who allegedly threw a 5-year-boy over Mall of America’s third-floor railing was “looking for someone to kill,” police said in a criminal complaint, according to The Star Tribune. Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, was reportedly charged with “attempted first-degree premeditated murder” after being accused of throwing a boy named Landen 0ver a railing and about 40 feet to the ground. He is currently being held on $2 million bail. The boy is reportedly in “critical condition” after sustaining a head bleed, “massive head trauma,” and “multiple fractured bones, including in his arms and legs.”

According to a criminal complaint, Aranda confessed to the crime and said he planned to kill someone at the Mall the day before, but it “didn’t work out that day.” The complaint also reportedly states that Aranda planned to kill an adult “because they usually stand near the balcony,” and said he had felt frustrated after women had “rejected” him at the Mall when he tried to speak with them. The newspaper reports that Aranda also has previous felony convictions for “first-degree property damage” along with other misdemeanors.