BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Security guards tackled a man with an AR-15 rifle outside the Lids hat shop at Mall of America, The man, police said, had just robbed the shop. Arrested was Cartier Troy Alexander, 28, of nearby suburban Woodbury. Police said guards had tracked the man on cameras for eighr minutes as he strolled the southeast section of the third floor, his rifle in plain view. Security guards didn’t intervene for fear of an armed confrontation that could endangered innocent people. The man first stole a toy from a kiosk, police said. Then, police said, he entered Lids and demanded that a clerk load a bag with jerrseys. As he left, the man was tackled and the AR-15 taken. Booker Hodges, Bloomington police chief, commended the Mall security team for not ordering a lockdown that could bave worsened the situation. Shoppers were oblivious to what was happening until the man was taken down.
Yes, that’s an AR-15. From security video.
Alexander. Police said that he may have robbed Twin City Pawn in Minneapolis earlier in the day. He had a permit to carry a firearm. A records check showed no criminal history.