Police in Georgia arrest suspect in Mall of America shooting

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — A suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting at the Mall of America in December was arrested in Georgia on Tuesday, police said.

Bloomington, Minnesota, Police Chief Booker Hodges said during a news conference Tuesday that the 17-year-old suspect was taken into custody in Decatur, Georgia, by federal and state law enforcement officials. The suspect faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree assault.

The Associated Press typically does not name juvenile criminal defendants.

Johntae Hudson, 19, was killed in a Dec. 23 shooting at the Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping center located in Bloomington.

Hudson was shot eight times and died during an altercation inside the mall’s Nordstrom store. Witnesses, mall security guards and first responders tried to save him. Customers scrambled for safety and the nation’s largest shopping center went into lockdown on one of the final days of the holiday shopping season.

The suspect arrested Tuesday in Decatur, an Atlanta suburb, was one of four suspects charged by Minnesota prosecutors in December. They include two other 17-year-olds and 18-year-old Taeshawn Adams Wright. Wright faces counts of second-degree murder and second-degree assault. The two 17-year-olds have been charged with second-degree riot while armed with a dangerous weapon.

Hodges said police on Tuesday also arrested the teenage suspect’s mother in Golden Valley, Minnesota. She was charged with aiding and abetting the suspect for allegedly driving him to Georgia following the shooting.

The suspect remains in custody in Georgia pending extradition to Minnesota. The U.S. Marshals Service, Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the arrest Tuesday, WAGA-TV reported.

“This is another example of guns being placed in the hands of immature young people, resulting in deadly consequences in what was once safe public places,” U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said in a statement, WAGA-TV reported.