18-year-old pleads guilty to shooting and wounding 2 people at MOA on New Year's Eve

An 18-year-old St. Paul man has admitted that he shot and wounded two people at the Mall of America on New Year's Eve, sending shoppers running for cover and prompting a lockdown at the mall for roughly 45 minutes.

Kahlil M. Wiley pleaded guilty Friday in Hennepin County District Court to second-degree assault in connection with the gunfire late in the afternoon of Dec. 31 on the third floor of the Bloomington mall. Prosecutors agreed to drop a second count of the same charge.

The plea deal with prosecutors calls for Wiley to receive a 3¾-year sentence, with the first two-thirds served in prison and the balance on supervised release.

The County Attorney's office also agreed not to prosecute "some uncharged burglary offenses" out of Bloomington, according to the plea deal filing.

Wiley remains jailed ahead of his March 22 sentencing before Judge Juan Hoyos.

According to the charges:

A gunshot victim with a leg wound told police that he knew Wiley and was upset with him about an earlier incident. The victim said that he and a friend saw Wiley at the mall and started chasing him.

Wiley turned, pulled out a handgun and fired once, the victim said. The bullet hit him in the leg, ricocheted off a metal railing and then grazed the shoulder of a man nearby who prosecutors say had no known association with Wiley. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and did not require hospitalization.

After Wiley was arrested on Jan. 4, he told police that he ran several laps around the mall corridor looking for an exit and opened fire as his pursuer closed the gap.