Boy back home months after being thrown from mall balcony

Landen was thrown nearly 40 feet from a third-floor balcony at the Minnesota mall by a stranger in April. He suffered significant head trauma and broken bones, needing multiple surgeries and inpatient rehabilitation. “Thank you to all of you who prayed for us and loved us during the past 4 ½ months,” his family wrote. “You helped to give us hope and show us the Glory of God’s great love here on earth even during the darkest of days.”

The man who threw him, Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Aranda told investigators he went to the mall “looking for someone to kill” after a woman rejected his advances.

Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda Courtesy City of Bloomington Police Department/Handout via Reuters

The boy’s mother told police Aranda came up very close to her group as they stood outside the Rainforest Cafe restaurant. She said she asked him if they were in his way and should move, and he picked up the child without warning and threw him off the balcony, according to the complaint.

Aranda has two past convictions for assaults at the mall, both in 2015, including one in which he threw a glass of water and glass of tea at a woman who refused to buy him something. At one point, he was banned from the mall.

Aranda originally said he planned to kill an adult before choosing the child instead, the complaint said.