Five-year-old tossed from Mall of America balcony home from hospital
FOX NEWS - A five-year-old boy who five months ago was thrown off of the third-story balcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota by a stranger returned home from the hospital Tuesday, according to family.
The family of Landen Hoffman announced on GoFundMe that the boy completed inpatient rehabilitation and is now home. He will enter "the next phase of recovery" and receive outpatient rehabilitation for "multiple injuries and adjusting to life back at home and school."
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"Thank you to all of you who prayed for us and loved us during the past 4 ½ months," the family's update said. "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 boy's family said in August that he was moved from the hospital's intensive care into a rehabilitation program. The child has required multiple surgeries for head trauma and broken bones since the attack.
In April, a man who did not know Landen or his family grabbed the boy and threw him nearly 40 feet to the ground off of the third-story balcony at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. That man--Emmanuel Aranda, 25,--was charged with attempted premediated murder after his arrest in the April 12 incident. He pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Aranda allegedly told investigators he went to the mall "looking for someone to kill" after past instances of women repeatedly rejecting his advances. Aranda filed a notice Friday to appeal his case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The notice did not give a reason for appealing, Minneapolis' Star Tribune reported.
The GoFundMe page raised more than $1 million for Landen's family.