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Man with shotgun in custody after standoff with police at Mall of America

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — A man is in custody following a standoff Friday night in the north parking lot of the Mall of America.

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The Bloomington Police Department said that a woman called around 4 p.m. on Friday to report that a man in the parking lot near American Boulevard and 24th Avenue by the Mall of America was inside a white truck with a large gun, according to WCCO. The woman told police that she saw the man walk around a circus tent.

When police arrived on the scene, they reportedly found the man but he did not put the gun down, the news outlet reported.

People in the circus tent and a hotel in the area were evacuated, according to The Associated Press. Officers contacted the man’s family, who told them he was having some kind of mental health crisis.

Crisis negotiators were able to get him to surrender eventually. By 6:15 p.m., the man went to his SUV and would not get out until about 30 minutes later. According to the Star Tribune, when the man got out of his SUV, two gunshots were fired. He fell to the ground yelling. He was handcuffed and taken to the hospital.

During the standoff, customers were unable to get into the parking lot and roadways were closed but have since reopened, according to the AP.

Mall of America spokesperson Laura Utecht said, according to the AP, that one mall entrance was closed during the standoff but the rest of the mall was open.

The man’s identity has not been released, the Star Tribune reported.