Five-year-old Landen Hoffman was thrown from the third-floor balcony at the Mall of America earlier this month, while innocently standing outside the Rainforest Café.
Twenty-four-year-old Emmanuel Aranda of Minneapolis has been charged with attempted premeditated first-degree murder after snatching the boy away from his mother and tossing him off the 40-foot drop.
According to Landen’s mom, Aranda approached her group at the mall on April 12, and she asked him if they were in his way and should move. Before she knew it, the stranger picked up Landen and threw him from the balcony.
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Aranda has committed crimes at the mall. The 24-year-old has two prior assault convictions from 2015 and was banned from the premises for a period of time. He was forced to undergo psychological evaluation following those earlier offenses.
Police captured Aranda on a light rail train leaving the mall and he admitted to throwing the boy off the balcony. He also told them he went to the Mall of America the day prior trying to kill somebody (preferably an adult), but it didn’t “work out.”
In spite of taking a plunge that could have killed him, doctors have reported that Landen is actually doing much better than expected. Even medical staff are chalking it up to a “miracle.”