BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (1010 WINS) — Several New York Giants players and team radio play-by-play announcer Bob Papa were inside the Mall of America during a shooting Friday night that killed a 19-year-old man.
Pat Hanlon, the team's executive vice president of communications, told the Associated Press that the team was staying at a hotel adjacent to the mall and that some players were believed to be in the mall at the time of the shooting.
The team is in Minnesota ahead of their game against the Vikings on Saturday.
It wasn't immediately clear which players were at the mall at the time.
"Everyone is back in the hotel and accounted for now," Hanlon added.
Papa tweeted that he was was safe after being inside the mall during the shooting.
"Safely out of mall and back at hotel," he tweeted. "Prayers to victim."
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said a bystander's jacket was also grazed by a bullet during the shooting at the mall's Nordstrom location.
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, but it sent frightened customers at the nation's largest shopping center racing into a lockdown.
Hodges urged the gunman and the others involved in the fight to turn themselves into police.
"We are going to catch you, we are going to lock you up and you are going to get an orange jumpsuit," he said. "It's just a matter of when it's going to happen."
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.
Police did not identify the man who was killed but Hodges said he and Bloomington Mayor Tim Busse spoke to the victim's relatives on Friday night.
“The family here — I really feel bad for them," Hodges said. "Their last week before Christmas and now they’re having to bury one of their loved ones.”
The lockdown lasted for about an hour before the mall tweeted that shoppers were being sent outside. Videos posted on social media show shoppers hiding in stores, and an announcement in the mall warned people to seek shelter. Some videos show shoppers running for cover after a loud bang is heard.
The mall was expected to reopen Saturday, but the Nordstrom store will remain closed, Hodges said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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