A boy, now 8, has spoken out about his miracle survival after being thrown 40-feet off a Mall of America balcony saying he shows his scars to school friends who ‘don’t believe’ him.
Landen Hoffman was five years old when Emmanuel Aranda threw him off a balcony, in a quest for revenge against a woman that had rejected him, at the shopping center in Bloomington, Minnesota in April 2019.
Landen suffered severe head trauma and multiple broken bones but survived the potentially deadly plunge much to the disbelief and relief of others.
‘I tell them that it was me that got thrown and they said ‘really’ then I show them everything on me and then they believe it and then sometimes like some people don’t believe it but I don’t care if they do or not,’ he told Good Morning America.
‘I just care that lots of people do care about me, and I care about them too.’
A boy, now 8, has spoken out about his miracle survival after being thrown 40-feet off a Mall of America balcony saying he shows his scars to school friends who ‘don’t believe’ him
Landen suffered severe head trauma and multiple broken bones but survived the potentially deadly plunge much to the disbelief and relief of others
Landen’s mother Carrie Hoffman also broke her silence on the traumatizing incident describing the moment she watched her son launched from the building.
‘A stranger came up and was whispering to these two little boys,’ she said.
‘[It] happened in a blink of an eye, he snatched them and ran, and I was just frozen. You can’t react, it happened so fast, then I screamed ‘no’ after he was already thrown.’
Carrie said that she was praying to God for ‘complete healing and restoration’ adding that she wanted to see her son leave hospital walking not in a wheelchair.
‘He caught himself, he landed, that’s why his arms were broken and his nose was smooshed,’ she said.
‘I believe that angels caught him because I prayed for angels coming in there.’
She went on to say that all the doctors had told her that her son’s survival was no short of a miracle.
‘All of them said this was a miracle he should not be here.’
Landen’s mother Carrie Hoffman also broke her silence on the traumatizing incident describing the moment she watched her son launched from the building
The now eight-year-old’s mother went on to say that all the doctors had told her that her son’s survival was no short of a miracle
Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the attack on the boy.
Aranda, who had been banned from the mall in two other instances, told investigators he committed that horrific act after ‘a woman rejected his advances.’
As part of the settlement, the Mall of America has promised to toughen its trespassing policies.
The family alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that mall security should have prevented Aranda from ‘prowling’ at the building without an officer following him closely.
The lawsuit also claimed that the mall and its security detail knew about previous ‘violent, aggressive, and erratic’ behavior that Aranda had displayed at the shopping center.
Carrie said that despite the brutal attack on her son, she forgives Aranda.
‘I refuse to be full of anger and hatred. I refuse to let [him] take my joy. My sweet, precious baby, my amazing gift from god is going to be okay,’ she told Good Morning America.
Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the attack on the young boy, now 8
Aranda, who had been banned from the mall in two other instances, told investigators he committed that horrific act after ‘a woman rejected his advances’
‘I don’t believe that forgiveness is a feeling. I think it’s a decision that you have to make and I needed to remove him from my mind.’
At the time of the incident Landen’s medical bills totaled to more than $1.7 million and his family have last week agreed upon a settlement with the mall.
In a joint statement announcing last week’s settlement, the mall and the family said they will work together on policy changes to prevent similar incidents.
‘Mall of America and the family have agreed to work together with a focus on safety, and already are jointly pursuing policy changes to existing trespass limits for violent criminals so as to give greater ability to preclude such persons from their premises,’ the statement said.
The lawsuit sought unspecified damages. At the time it was filed, an attorney for the family said the boy had already incurred more than $1.7 million in medical expenses.
Landen’s parents said on their GoFundMe page in 2019 that Landen had more than 15 medical procedures, including surgeries for two broken arms and a broken leg, facial and skull fractures and removal of his spleen.
‘The boy’s recovery has been nothing short of miraculous and the focus remains on his health and wellbeing, which includes privacy during this time,’ a statement released last week stated.
‘The Mall and the family will ask that any resulting change be named in honor of the young boy.’
Additional details of the settlement were not released by the boy’s family or the mall.
