Blaine police lock down Northtown Mall after shooting
BLAINE, Minn. — Police are investigating a shooting at Northtown Mall in Blaine Sunday afternoon.
The Blaine Police Department says officers responded around 3:30 p.m. for a report of shots being fired within the mall. Officers from Blaine and surrounding areas arrived within minutes and contained the scene.
Police cleared the mall shortly after 5 p.m. It remains locked down.
Authorities say the shots were contained to the exterior of the mall and no injuries were reported.
There is no threat to mall employees, guests or area residents, police said in a statement.
Police arrested a man in the area in connection to the shooting. During his arrest, officers found a firearm on his person.
Surveillance cameras allegedly captured the shooting, which may have started as an altercation between two separate groups, police say.
"This is something that's never happened to us before"
A store manager told WCCO they heard loud noises and everyone started running.
"This is something that's never happened to us before. I've been in this mall for six-and-a-half years, or at least an employee here, and never had anything like this happen before," they said.
Lucina Hentges-Mendez was visiting the mall from Oak Grove with her 7-year-old son.
"I turn around, and my son turns around, and we see all these people running in our direction, completely terrified," she said. "A woman was running with her two kids and she looked at me and she said, 'shooter.'"
Hentges-Mendez says it was a deeply traumatizing experience for her and her son, who ran out of an emergency exit after calling 911.
"Just [felt like] complete unreal, like this is unreal. This isn't happening," she said. "I wanted to know what to do, you know? Should I stay there and hide or should we run outside? Are we going to run out this door and people are going to shoot us in the head? I don't know."
A glass panel on the lower part of the entrance door where the shooting happened was shattered and a bullet hole could be seen in a window further up.
A woman who saw the shooting told WCCO the gunman fired into the mall.
"Why would people do that?" Hentges-Mendez said. "Don't they know there's kids there and old people and other people? I don't have a good answer."
Earlier this year, a police officer was hurt during a large brawl outside the mall.
The mall is located 20 minutes north of the Twin Cities, off Highway 47.