BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in August of 2022.
The alleged accomplice arrested and charged in connection with a shooting at the Mall of America last summer entered a guilty plea in Hennepin County Tuesday, according to court documents.
Rashad May, 23, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender to avoid arrest, allowing for the charge of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon to be dismissed.
Hennepin County officials say May's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on June 27.
The deal comes after May and the suspected gunman, 21-year-old Shamar Lark, were arrested while leaving a barbershop together in Chicago last August. The pair was located about a week after the shooting as a result of a nationwide search effort. At the time, both men were taken into custody without incident and later extradited back to Minnesota.
Lark still faces charges including second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, intentional discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit in a public place.
Three other suspects — 23-year-old Delyanie Arnold, 23-year-old Selena Raghubir and 21-year-old Denesh Raghubir — were also arrested and subsequently charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest in the aftermath of the shooting.
The initial incident happened on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, after two groups — which included May and Lark — were involved in an argument inside the Nike store at MOA , according to the criminal complaint. Police allege the men briefly left the store before returning and opening fire at the other group. Authorities later said they believed Lark had been the shooter.
The mall immediately went into lockdown before closing early for the night. No injuries were reported as a result of the shooting.
After the shooting, Bloomington Police said Lark and May were seen on surveillance video running out of the mall and into the IKEA parking lot across the street. Investigators learned they were picked up by a Best Western shuttle and then taken to the nearby hotel location, where cell phone records revealed May contacted Arnold multiple times, asking him to help them escape from the scene, police said.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges explained at a press conference following the shooting that Arnold then contacted his girlfriend, Selena Raghubir, who was the assistant general manager at the Best Western. Officials said Selena then sent her cousin, Denesh, who also worked at the hotel, to drive the hotel shuttle to the IKEA parking lot and pick up Lark and May.
The pair were driven back to the Best Western, at which point Selena drove them to her and Arnold's residence in Bloomington, police said.
When officers arrived at the Best Western, police said Denesh Raghubir told them the alleged shooters were still inside the hotel, which police said was misinformation that impacted the investigation.
Court records say police executed a search warrant at Arnold and Selena Raghubir's residence on Aug. 5, 2022, where they located shirts worn by Lark and May.
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