Minot native recounts chaos in Mall of America shooting

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (KMOT) - A shooting inside the Mall of America Thursday sent scores of shoppers running in a panic, and prompted a lockdown of the mall.

Your News Leader learned some people with connections to the area were in the mall at the time.

Teresa Farstad Coleman is a Minot native who lives in Minneapolis.

She said that she was shopping at the mall Thursday with her daughter Chayse.

Suddenly, they saw a crowd of shoppers running towards them, and screaming at them to run, saying someone had a gun.

She said they took shelter inside the mall’s LL Bean store and hid among merchandise for roughly a half hour, before shoppers and staff members inside the store were escorted into a safe room in the back of the store to ride out the situation.

“It really was the unknown that was so terrifying. Just sitting there and not knowing. Is this a terrorist attack? Is this multiple shooters? Just not knowing what was going on,” said Coleman.Coleman and her daughter were able to exit the mall safely after roughly two hours.

She said the incident has made them rethink about going to public places, at least in the short term.

“[Thursday] night, all I could think of was that crowd running towards me, and the look on their face, and the just the panic, and I believe I probably will not be going to the Mall of America anytime soon,” said Coleman.

Coleman said they’re also likely changing plans about going to an upcoming concert, due to Thursday’s experience.

The mall reopened Friday.

Bloomington Police said no one was hurt, and they are still searching for the shooter.