Mom of Man Who Threw Boy Over Mall of America Balcony: ‘He Needs Help’

The mother of the man who hurled a little boy over a railing at Mall of America in Minnesota says her son has struggled with mental illness all his life. Five-year-old Landen Hoffmann was seriously injured when he fell 40 feet to the ground after being thrown from the third-floor balcony at the Bloomington mall in April. The man who threw Landen, 24-year-old Emmanuel Aranda, was later apprehended at the mall’s light rail train station. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Tuesday.