2 injured in New Year’s Eve shooting at Mall of America

BLOOMGINTON, Minn. — Two people were injured Friday in a shooting reported at the Mall of America, according to police.

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Authorities said around 5:45 p.m. CST that the scene of the shooting had been secured and that the mall was back to normal operations following a “short lockdown.” No suspects were being sought at the mall, police said.

At a news conference Friday evening, Deputy Chief Kim Clausen said one person was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg while another, believed to have been a bystander, was treated at the scene and released after he was apparently grazed by the gunshot.

“It does appear that there was an altercation between two males prior to the shot being fired, and that altercation did result in the one gunshot,” Clausen said.

She could not immediately confirm the ages of the victims or the suspected shooter.

“The investigators are just figuring out what the altercation was, what led to it and how this ended up in a shooting, and those are the things that they will determine through the investigation,” she said.

The shooting happened around 5 p.m. Mall security put stores into lockdown in less than a minute. Dan Jasper, vice president of communications for the Mall of America, said the lockdown lasted for about 45 minutes.

“We’re grateful that nobody was seriously injured this evening,” he said, adding that a planned New Year’s Eve event at the mall had been canceled.

Approximately 40 million people visit the Mall of America from worldwide each year, according to mall officials. The mall, which houses hundreds of stores, has been in operation since 1992.

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