After over three years, the settlement comes for when a 5-year-old boy named Landen was grabbed by a stranger and thrown from the third floor of the mall.

When this occurred Landen miraculously survived but suffered head trauma and multiple broken bones. After four and a half months of medical care, Landen was then able to go home.

The boy's family didn’t file a lawsuit against the mall until July 2021 asking for unspecified damages. The suit accused the Mall of America and its security force of failing to protect the boy, later identified as Landen, from Emmanuel Aranda, the man who threw him over a third-story balcony on April 12, 2019.

While the statement shared by law firm Briol & Benson, PLLC, says the terms of the settlement are confidential, Kare 11 does share a bit of an insight on the media release.

The boy’s recovery has been nothing short of miraculous and the focus remains on his health and well-being, which includes privacy during this time. Mall of America and the family have agreed to work together with a focus on safety, and already are jointly pursuing policy changes to existing trespass limits for violent criminals so as to give greater ability to preclude such persons from their premises," the media release continued. The Mall and the family will ask that any resulting change be named in honor of the young boy.

It is also noted by kare11.com that “According to court records, Aranda was charged in two previous incidents at the mall. Following his arrest, Aranda pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree attempted murder in May in exchange for a 19-year sentence.”

As someone who worked at the mall from 2018-2022, I can share that this event has affected so many. I remember a lady came into the store I worked at and shared that she and her 3 kids were 6 feet behind the family when it happened and she was so terrified because it so easily could have been one of her kids. This is because she shared that Emmanuel Aranda did it at random and it all happened so fast because there was just enough space for it to happen. I wasn’t at the mall that week, but when I came back the atmosphere was so different. Not a lot of people brought their kids to the mall for a while.

What is a shame is that the lady shared with me that mall security knew Aranda was in the mall that day. They knew this because he had previously been charged with instances in the mall so they knew of him and his state of mind. Yet, this happened.

Information is credited to the article from kare11.com.

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