A woman whose then-five-year-old son was thrown off a balcony by a stranger at the Mall of America in 2019 has spoken out about the incident.

The horrific ordeal took place in April 2019 and saw a man pick up five-year-old Landen and throw him over a third-floor balcony outside the Rainforest Cafe at the Bloomington, Minn. mall.

The boy's mother, Kari Hoffman, witnessed the shocking act, as well as strangers nearby. He sadly suffered severe head trauma and broke a number of bones in his arms and legs.

Now, in a new interview on Good Morning America, Kari recalls:  "We were just looking at the alligator at the Rainforest Café, and a stranger came up and was whispering to these two little boys. And I thought that he was gonna turn this alligator on for them. He snatched [Landen] and ran. And I was just frozen … It happened so fast. I screamed, 'No!' after he was already thrown."

She added: "I don’t even remember running down the escalators, but I was screaming the whole time, ‘No, Landen’s not gonna die.'"

As a crowd began to emerge at the scene, Hoffmann asked onlookers to pray for her little boy.

"I don’t care who was looking. If they were looking, I asked them to pray," she said. "He’s got a heartbeat. He was breathing. We got in the ambulance, and right before they shut the door, he opened his eyes for a second."

The youngster was rushed to the hospital and received treatment for brain trauma. "Listening to him breathing with the machine's beeping was the best sound I've ever heard in my life," Hoffmann went on. "Because that meant he was alive."

Landen added: "Some people don't believe it, but I don't care if they do or not. I just care that lots of people care about me, and I care about them too."

Following months of recovery, Landen, now eight, was able to return to school for his first day of kindergarten. Hoffman says her faith allowed her to forgive the man who harmed her son.

She said: "I don't think forgiveness is a feeling, it's a decision you have to make. It's a decision that you have to make so that God can do what he needs to do in your life ... and that was to save Landen."

According to police, the man responsible, 24-year-old Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, went to the Mall of America "looking for someone to kill" because he'd been rejected by women at the establishment, per a criminal complaint obtained by People.

Aranda was ultimately sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Last year, the Hoffmans filed a lawsuit against the Mall of America for allowing Ananda onto the property.

Featured image credit: David R. Frazier Photolibrary, Inc. / Alamy

There's been an update as a missing businessman was found dead inside a giant crocodile.

Gabriel Batista, 59, disappeared last week while trying to drive across the Komati River in the northeast of South Africa.

His car became stuck on a low bridge, and by the time police arrived, it was empty, Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo told SABC.

After days of searching, authorities located a 4.5 metre, 500kg Nile crocodile with a visibly swollen stomach, leading to a dramatic operation that ended with the reptile being shot from a helicopter and airlifted out of the river.

Human Remains And Personal Items Found Inside

The search effort lasted four days, with drones and helicopters scanning the river before spotting the crocodile resting on a small island.

According to The Telegraph, a post-mortem examination of the animal revealed body parts inside, including two severed arms, part of a rib cage, and pieces of flesh. Investigators also discovered a ring believed to belong to Batista.

Capt Johan "Pottie" Potgieter, who led the police dive unit, said: "I don’t want to go into too much detail but there was enough inside the stomach to lead us to believe the crocodile ate the missing man. But we will have to wait until the DNA results come back to confirm it."

DNA testing is now expected to confirm whether the remains are Batista’s.

"Besides having a massively full tummy, he didn’t move around or try to slip into the river despite the noise of the drones and the chopper," Potgieter added.

Questions Remain Over Final Moments

It is still unclear whether the missing man had already drowned before being attacked or if he was alive when the crocodile struck.

Batista owned the Border Country Inn and sports bar nearby, and was described by those who knew him as a well-liked family man.

"Gabriel was a lovely guy and a family man... he spent a lot of time up here and customers loved him," a spokesman said.

"He lived in Johannesburg but owned this guest house and bar and spent a lot of time here and was on his way to work on Monday when he was just swept away."

"The family do not want to say anything until the DNA results have been done. It is just terrible and his wife has been here every day with the police diving team," they continued. "It is a nightmare but at the moment there is no family comment."

It is not known whether the man drowned by the time he was attacked by the crocodiles or if he was eaten alive. Credit: SABC News / Facebook

Crocodile May Have Eaten More Than One Victim

Alongside the human remains, investigators also found six different types of shoes inside the crocodile’s stomach, per a report.

Potgieter said this could suggest the animal had attacked others, but warned against jumping to conclusions. "A crocodile will eat or swallow anything," he explained.

Featured image credit: Saurav Pandey Photography / Getty

A brave and heroic mom has spoken out about the struggle to free her toddler from the jaws of a crocodile and revealed she saved the boy by sticking her fingers up the reptile's nose, the Daily Mail has reported.

The incident occurred when 30-year-old mom Maurina Musisinyana took her two young sons on a fishing trip with their aunt in the Runde River, near the Gonarezhou National Park in eastern Zimbabwe.

You can see more on this story in the ZBC News report below:

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After Musisinyana left her two children playing in the shade of an umbrella on the riverbank, she was suddenly alerted when her sister-in-law started screaming.

Dropping her fishing gear, Musisinyana sprinted to her children, only to find the umbrella drifting in the river and her three-year-old son, Gideon, being dragged towards the water's edge by a crocodile.

Knowing she had to act fast, the doting mom says she recalled a lesson she had learned from her elders: that if you press hard on a crocodile’s nose it can begin to suffocate and lose its strength.

Detailing the unthinkable incident to ZBC News, as per The Herald, Maurina recalled:

"We only realised [Gideon had been snatched] when the crocodile was already dragging the baby into the river.

"I immediately rushed to the scene. My son had been shielding himself from the sun with an umbrella, so upon arrival at the scene, I noticed the umbrella floating in the river and went straight there to locate him and the crocodile.

"Upon finding the crocodile, I pressed its nose hard — a tip I learnt from the elders long back, that if you suffocate a crocodile from its nose, it loses its strength and that is exactly what I did."

The brave mom shoved her fingers into the beast's nostrils, and using her other hand, was able to free her son's head from its jaws.

Related - This is the moment a wildebeest narrowly escaped the jaws of crocodile:

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The crocodile then proceeded to bite Maurina’s hand before swinging away towards the water, but fortunately, Gideon was released.

The mom added: "Even to this day, I still do not believe that I rescued my son."

The three-year-old suffered facial injuries that made breathing difficult, so both mother and son were rushed to a nearby hospital.

Gideon has since received treatment and is said to be responding well to medication.

Per National Geographic, Nile crocodiles are known man-eaters, and "will attack almost anything unfortunate enough to cross its path".

It adds: "Firm numbers are sketchy, but estimates are that up to 200 people may die each year in the jaws of a Nile croc."

We would like to wish the family all the best in their recovery from this incident.

A 12-year-old girl is missing following a suspected crocodile attack while she was swimming in a creek in Australia.

“Northern Territory Police are currently searching for a missing child near the remote community of Palumpa,” Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, July 3.

“Around 5:30PM last night, police received reports of a missing 12-year-old child who was last seen swimming at Mango Creek,” the statement continued.

“Initial reports stated the child had been attacked by a crocodile. Community members and Peppimenarti Police attended the scene and began searching for the child, who has yet to be located.”

Palumpa, situated approximately 220 miles southwest of Darwin, has an estimated population of 400 residents.

Due to its remote location, officers from the nearby town of Wadeye are assisting in the search alongside a specialist rescue team, reported ABC News.

“Local officers are on scene and our thoughts are with the family and the community,” Senior Sergeant Erica Gibson said in a statement to NBC News.

“Officers are currently searching a large section of the creek via boat, and we thank the community for their ongoing assistance.”

Northern Territory Police Minister Brent Potter informed reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the operation had entered the "recovery phase," as reported by the BBC.

"It's a tragic incident for any parent or family member to lose a young child, and especially in the circumstances like that, taken by a crocodile," he said.

The Northern Territory is home to more than 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, which have been protected from mass culls and hunting since 1971.

These crocodiles, the largest species in the world, can grow up to 20 feet in length, though fatal attacks on humans are relatively uncommon.

In a separate incident last month, a saltwater crocodile that had reportedly lunged at humans and snatched pets in another part of the territory was captured, killed, and made into a feast for local residents, per NBC News.

Given the threat to human safety, Northern Territory officials have increased the number of crocodiles allowed to be removed annually from 300 to 1,200, as outlined in a 10-year management plan released this year.

Featured image credit: DEA / G.SIOEN / Getty