Photo: Mark Erickson/Getty Images
Landen, the five-year-old boy who wasthrown from a third-floor balconyat the Mall of America, is “now alert and conscious,” according to his family.
The boy’s family revealed Friday that the boy is no longer in critical condition but does face additional surgeries.
The family also thanked the public for all its support.
Adding: “The road to recovery remains long, but with God and you, we are assured to make it through. Please keep praying for our son and may our loving God bless you and everyone you love.”
The GoFundMe pagefor the boy has raised more than $1 million as of Friday.
Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda.Bloomington Police Department
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PolicechargedAranda with suspicion of attempted premeditated first-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. It remains unclear if he’s entered a plea to that charge.
Aranda allegedly told police he had first considered choosing to kill an adult at the mall the day before the incident “because they usually stand near the balcony,” but that did not “work out,” the criminal complaint states.
About 10:15 a.m. the next day, Aranda was back at the mall, where he allegedly approached the victim and the victim’s mother as they stood outside the Rainforest Café on the third floor with another parent and child.
Earlier this week, Mac Hammond, a pastor from the boy’s family’s church, said the boy hadendured a five-hour MRI, which showed his injuries were not as bad as originally thought.
Hammond told his parish Sunday that one of Landen’s doctors commented that the shape the boy is in, given what happened to him, was “truly a miracle.”
According to Hammond, the medical team said Landen’s injuries were more consistent with a bicycle fall than a three-story plummet.
Hammond noted the doctors found “zero evidence of brain damage…there wasn’t even swelling in the brain.”
source: people.com
