It was previously learned that members of the New York Giants were at Minnesota’s Mall of America when a fatal shooting occurred at the venue last Friday.
According to Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing, Giants radio play-by-play announcer Bob Papa confirmed during a Friday morning appearance on New York’s WFAN that he, former Giants tight end and current broadcaster Howard Cross, and reporter John Schmeelk were at a restaurant when they learned an active shooter situation put the mall on lockdown.
“Howard Cross and I started coming up with a game plan of what we were gonna do because we didn’t know what was happening, if it was an isolated incident or if it was a mass shooting,” Papa explained. “It was pretty scary for about an hour until we got out of there.”
CNN’s Tina Burnside and Harmeet Kaur noted on Thursday that one adult and two minors were ultimately charged in connection with the shooting that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old. The incident is reportedly related to an altercation “between about five to nine people inside Nordstrom” at the mall.
“There was no exit,” Papa continued. “We had just finished our meal, they were starting to bus the table and Cross was like, ‘I’m keeping the steak knife.’ So we grab that and then he started determining which tables we were gonna flip and get behind. And then I noticed that there was a little water stand in the back of the restaurant in this small little room with benches and stuff in front of it, I’m like, ‘Cross, I’m crawling in there.’ It was pretty tense there for a while.”
Papa and other individuals associated with the Giants were at the Mall of America ahead of New York’s Christmas Eve game against the Minnesota Vikings. “Big Blue” (8-6-1) can clinch a playoff berth with a home victory over the 4-10-1 Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.
