The NASCAR star was seen fleeing the mall after Thursday’s shooting
Police say gunshots were fired into a crowded store at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The mall of located 10 minutes from downtown Minneapolis.
Watch the video of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch escaping Mall of America below.
“After reviewing video, we observed two groups get into some type of altercation at the cash register in the Nike store,” Bloomington Police Department Chief Booker Hodges said.
He added, “One of the groups left after the altercation, but instead of walking away, they decided to demonstrate a complete lack of respect for human life. They decided to fire multiple rounds into a store with people.”
Early reports are that one person fired three shots.
“Please turn yourself in,” he said. “But should you choose not to, our officers, our partners, our detectives will not stop until we lock you up,” he said.
Mall of America is the largest mall in the United States. It features 520 stores.
“These brazen incidents will not be tolerated. State resources are on the scene, we have offered our full support, and we will maintain close communication with Bloomington police to apprehend those responsible,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said in a statement.
In the hours after the shooting, mall visitors were placed on lockdown. They remained there as police surrounded the mall in search of suspects.
Kyle Busch is talking to other NASCAR teams for 2023 contract
Kyle Busch and family were at Mall of America during the incident
Kyle’s son Brexton Busch is racing his Outlaw Kart in the Midwest this week.
Earlier in the day, Samantha Busch was posting videos of her family on rides inside the mall. Just a few minutes later, the shooting took place.
Many videos from inside the mall went viral. In one of those videos, NASCAR star Kyle Busch and his son Brexton could be seen fleeing the mall. He drives the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The family escaped the mall and are okay.
Samantha Busch commented via Instagram, “If you are seeing the news about the Mall of America, we got out and are safe. Praying others are too.”
NASCAR is racing at Michigan International Speedway this weekend. The cars aren’t on track until Saturday.
Update: Samantha Busch posts note on the incident
“We were at the Mall of America yesterday when a shooting happened,” Samantha Busch opened.
“We had been spending the afternoon riding the rides in the center of the mall and then the girls split up to shop while the boys stayed for more rides. Then chaos ensued.”
“I was standing at the entrance of H&M which is on floor 1 when I heard screaming from above. A group of people were running and yelling. My brain instantly thought it was just teenagers being goofy and then a split second later herds of people on levels 2 and 3 were running.”
“Next a wave of people started down our corridor and that’s when I heard people shouting ‘active shooter in the mall’. You know the logical thing to do is run out the doors but with Kyle and Brexton still somewhere inside I froze where I was.”
“Thank God when I called Kyle he answered as he and Brex were next in line for a ride and they didn’t know what was happening. We stayed on the phone with each other while the girls went running outside, getting as much distance from the mall as we could, and the boys made a beeline to the closet parking garage to get out of the building.”
“People were crying, shouting on cell phones, sirens going off, everyone was confused and didn’t know what was happening, which was the scary part. You didn’t know if it was one person, multiple people, where exactly they were in the mall or outside too, where was it safe to go?”
“We ended up finding out it was a dispute between two groups that ended in shots fired. It’s a lot to process as an adult but really hard as a parent to explain to your child what happened yesterday. Why it happened, what to do in a situation like that, what to do if it was another type of situation. How much do you cover without making it worse for them?”
She concluded, “Squeezing the family a little tighter today.”
Kyle Busch can be seen in a Rowdy Energy shirt at the 0:18 second mark in the video below.
Kyle Busch at Mall of America
Links
Kyle Busch | Mall of America | NASCAR
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