All calm at the MOA today

With the exception of additional security guards and police officers, the Mall of America was relatively quiet Tuesday, a day after a group of teenagers rampaged through the retail center.

Things are calm," Mall of America spokesman Dan Jasper said Tuesday.

Several shoppers and workers, interviewed by Star Tribune reporter Wendy Lee, said the incident would not deter them from their usual business.

Rachel Mitchell, a server at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., acknowledged that the mall could be a prime target for an attack, but she's still coming into work. The fact that incidents like Monday's are rare in the mall's history, indicates it is safe, she added.

Mitchell recalls seeing a group of "scary looking people" going down the escalator as she was leaving work at 5:15 p.m. on Monday. They were wearing low pants and baseball caps, she said.

"You're always vulnerable wherever you are," Mitchell said. "This is just a couple of stupid thugs that just want to throw chaos and one day."

Shereese Loyd, a 33-year-old Burnsville resident, said the news of yesterday's mob wouldn't stop her from visiting the megamall. Loyd brought her six-year-old son Micah and five-year-old nephew Elijah to watch a dance performance.

"You see security guards standing around," Loyd said. "It seems like they have enough people walking around."

Larry Wood, a Cambridge resident, was surprised when he read on Tuesday morning about the mob at the mall. He told his family, including his 11-year-old granddaughter Noelle, who was visiting from North Carolina and wanted to go to the megamall.

"I showed it to everybody," Wood said. "Look at what we have to look forward to."

But his family came to the mall anyway, with 30 stores they wanted to visit, listed out based on their location.
"We're from North Carolina and we're determined to still come," said Jennifer Bushinski, Wood's 35-year-old daughter and Noelle's mother.