Isadora Lilly- Stranger throws 5-year-old off balcony at mall

This past Friday, a man named Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda was arrested due to an incident in which he is blamed of having pushed or thrown a 5-year-old from a balcony at the Mall of America near Minneapolis. It is said that Aranda was most likely a stranger to the boy and his family, and therefore his motives remain unclear. As of Saturday it is known that the boy remains hospitalized with serious injuries from the nearly 40 foot fall. Aranda has previously faced misdemeanor charges for property damage and disorderly conduct after having thrown items from the upper mall level and having broken items at a store, and now faces charges for attempted homicide.

There are no particular events throughout U.S. history which strike me as similar to this one, as it is just so unusual, however it does remind me of Dorothea Dix, a reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, as well as improving conditions in jails, poorhouses, and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. I am reminded of Dix and of her reforms for the mentally ill because Aranda has previously had cases which were handled through a mental health court. This incident weighs very heavily on my heart, as I wonder where the boy’s parents were, if this could have been prevented, and why anyone would ever be driven to execute such a horrific deed, especially to a stranger.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/13/mall-america-attack-boy-thrown-balcony-fell-40-ft/3459256002/