MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Charges have been filed against the suspected gunman in the Mall of America shooting that left two people injured on New Year’s Eve.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Thursday charged 18-year-old Kahlil Markell Wiley of St. Paul with two felony count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection to the shooting.
Kahlil Markell Wiley (credit: Bloomington police)
Wiley allegedly shot a man in the leg after a fight inside the Mall of America on Friday night. Another man was also grazed by a bullet. Wiley fled the mall following the shooting.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT DETAILS
According to the criminal complaint, prior to the shooting, the victim who was shot in the leg was upset with Wiley over a previous incident. When the victim saw Wiley at the mall, the victim and his friend started to chase Wiley.
Wiley at one point turned around, pulled out a handgun and then shot the victim in the leg, the complaint said.
Investigators recovered a single discharged shell casing at the scene and determined Wiley fired a single gunshot.
The bullet struck the victim’s leg, exited his leg, ricocheted off a metal railing and then grazed the second victim’s shoulder.
Surveillance video at the time of the shooting showed a crowded mall with many shoppers about, including children.
In a post-Miranda statement, Wiley allegedly admitted to shooting the victim after they started to chase him. He said he got “scared” when the victim started to close in on him, so he pulled the gun and fired at him. Wiley said he bought the handgun off the internet.
Following an investigation, Wiley was arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday. A handgun recovered on him was the same gun he used in the mall shooting, the complaint said.
RELATED: 2 Men Shot In Mall Of America On New Year’s Eve
The shooting prompted a lockdown that had shoppers in the Bloomington mall scrambling to find shelter or fleeing the building. Police from Richfield, Eagan and Burnsville responded during the lockdown, as did officers from the Minnesota State Patrol and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The man shot in the leg was taken to Hennepin Healthcare for treatment. He is expected to survive. Police say he was involved in an altercation with the shooter and likely knew him. Investigators do not think the shooting was random.
The man grazed was a bystander. Paramedics treated him at the scene; he did not need to be hospitalized.
When asked at a press conference how the shooter brought a gun into the building, a mall representative said that while the mall bans guns on the premises, there are no searches or metal detectors at the doorways.
Another teenager was arrested Monday for aiding and abetting the shooter, but was released without charges.
Source: CBS Minnesota
Be First to Comment