Several members of the New York Giants were in the Mall of America when a shooting occurred Friday evening at the mall's Nordstrom's location.
A few players were in the mall, and several players were in the team's meal room, a meeting-type room just outside their hotel, which was adjacent to the mall. No one from the team was harmed in the incident, which left a 19-year-old dead in the shooting.
The Giants were in town to play the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, a 27-24 loss on Christmas Eve in which New York missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot.
“Your first thought is, obviously, once yourself is safe, you think about your teammates," wide receiver Darius Slayton said. "There’s guys that could have been shopping. Some guys in their room, some people are everywhere. So, obviously, your next thought is all your teammates are OK, which they were.”
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Slayton was one of the many players in the team's meal room. The group was locked in the room for nearly 30 minutes, according to Slayton.
“Just had to stay put," said running back Saquon Barkley, who said he was also in the meal room.
"I think there was a couple guys in the mall. I’m not quite sure exactly who. But it’s a crazy world out there.”
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The team's radio play-by-play announcer was also inside the mall during the shooting.
"Safely out of mall and back at hotel," Bob Papa tweeted.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said the victim was a 19-year-old man. A bystander's jacket was also grazed by a bullet.
There appeared to be some type of altercation between two groups and at one point, someone pulled out a gun and shot the victim multiple times, the chief said. The entire incident lasted about 30 seconds.
The mall is expected to reopen Saturday but the Nordstrom store will remain closed, Hodges said.
Mall video surveillance showed the altercation between the two groups — estimated as five to nine people — erupt into a fistfight before one person pulled out a gun and opened fire, the chief said.
“We don’t know why it happened or what happened,” Hodges added.
A nearby Bloomington police officer — one of 16 stationed at the mall Friday — heard the gunshots around 7:50 p.m. The officer tried life-saving measures but the victim died.
The lockdown lasted for about an hour before the mall tweeted that shoppers were being sent outside. Emergency vehicles had converged in the snowy parking lot and police could be seen putting up yellow crime scene tape near the Nordstrom store.
Videos posted on social media show shoppers running and hiding in stores as an announcement in the mall warned people to seek shelter. Some videos show shoppers running for cover after a loud bang is heard.
