8 charged in Mall of America melee

Authorities have charged eight men with misdemeanors or gross misdemeanors for their participation in a melee at the Mall of America on the day after Christmas.

All eight men are charged with disorderly conduct. Four of the men also face riot charges. Bloomington authorities also forwarded cases against 11 juveniles to the Hennepin County Attorney for consideration.

Police in December told MPR News that there were up to ten different fights taking place across the mall that involved between 50 and 100 people. No one was injured.

Police arrested 12 people at the time of the fight. Others who face charges were identified through the mall's surveillance video, said Bloomington Police Deputy Chief Rick Hart.

"The Mall of America isn't a very smart place to commit crime," Hart said. "They have a state-of-the-art video surveillance system, and anything they do wrong is certainly going to be recorded and we're certainly going to seek them out and prosecute them to the full extent of the law."

Hart said these charges likely conclude the investigation. He said it doesn't to have been an organized or planned fight.

"It was one of the busiest shopping days of the year," Hart said. "It appears to be nothing more than people running into each other that apparently had had issues or knew each other from other instances."