Emmanuel Aranda went looking for someone to kill after women rejected him. He threw a boy over a balcony at Mall of America

Man admitted dropping the boy nearly 12 metres after trying unsuccessfully to talk to women in the mall

Boy was critically injured in the fall, requiring multiple surgeries for head trauma and broken bone

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Emmanuel Aranda had been in and out of mental health treatment, his mother said. Photo: AP

Published: 12:34pm, 4 Jun 2019Updated: 10:11pm, 4 Jun 2019

The parents of a five-year-old Minnesota boy who survived being thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America decried the assailant’s actions as “evil” while saying they forgive him at a hearing Monday where a judge handed down a 19-year prison sentence.

Emmanuel Aranda showed little emotion during his hearing.

When Hennepin County District Judge Jeannice Reding asked whether Aranda wanted to say anything on his own behalf, the 24-year-old Minneapolis man responded with a simple “No”.

Reding then sentenced him to the term he agreed to when he pleaded guilty last month to attempted premeditated first-degree murder in the April 12 attack.

Aranda told investigators he went to the mall “looking for someone to kill”.

Emmanuel Aranda hurled a five-year-old boy off a third-floor balcony at Minnesota’s Mall of America. Photo: Reuters

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