In connection with the fatal shooting of a man, now named as 19-year-old Johntae Hudson, in the Mall of America over the Christmas holiday, five juveniles have been charged with second-degree murder.
About 12 hours after a 19-year-old was tragically shot following a brawl within the enormous retail complex, two 18-year-olds and three 17-year-olds were detained at their houses at 8.40 on Saturday morning. Police are still looking for a sixth suspect.
The five people who were detained dropped by a White Castle to satiate their hunger after leaving the scene, according to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.
“It looks that the individuals we detained here after the incident felt the need to obtain some food.” So they went to White Castle and purchased a craving pack,” a visibly irate Hodges stated.
Taeshawn Wright and Deandre Depratto, both 18 years old, were engaged in the altercation that turned deadly.
Due of their status as minors, the authorities did not publicly identify the 17-year-olds.
Johntae Hudson, 19, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was the victim of the incident that broke out on Friday night and was the culmination of a “long-running rivalry” between two groups of teens.
Ja’Nayea Hudson, Hudson’s sister, described how her brother was “supposed to go to the mall to get like a sweater to match with his shoes to go to his friend’s birthday that night.” She said this while sobbing.
Ja’Nayea said that when she first received the news that her brother had been wounded, she “hoped that it was just like a tiny gunshot wound or something.”
When she learned that emergency personnel were “trying to detect a pulse,” that optimism evaporated.
Hawi Abdurahman, a close friend of the victim, said that the shooting at the Mall of America in the days before Christmas should never have happened.
Street etiquette dictates that such behavior be avoided around families with young children, he said. This shouldn’t be taking place at a mall where there are kids and people shopping, they said.
Hudson advised people to avoid the wrong crowds since they would lead to their demise.
To help with funeral costs, the family has set up a GoFundMe page.
The suspects, according to Hodges, were originally ‘flat out’ refusing to participate, and some of them wouldn’t even provide their identities.
The tragedy on Friday marked just the second murder in Mall of America history and the first one using a gun. The first occurred in 1999, during a marital dispute.
Hodges held out an orange prison jumpsuit and an orange Santa hat and stated, “If you come here and kill folks in our mall, you get one of these at Christmas.”
“Five of them were given out today.”
“This is not a game we’re playing.” You’re being locked up. And we’ll make sure that everyone else who assisted these people gets jailed as well,’ he added.
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