In the wake of a tragic mall shooting in Minnesota, the mall has become a focal point for national debate about gun violence and gun control.
But one question lingers unanswered: How did a mall with an average of 20,000 shoppers and 700 employees become a prime target for a gunman?
What happened to the mall’s management, the owners, the workers, and the communities in the aftermath of the tragedy?
To answer these questions, we spoke to several of the mall workers who lost their lives.
One of them, Michelle Smith, was a store manager.
The second is a woman who worked at the mall for two years.
Both were part of a small team who had a hand in bringing the mall back to life.
Their story is the story of how the mall came to be a place where gun violence is part of everyday life.
The Story of Mall of AMERICA [The American Conservative]