When money began to fall from the top of the Mall of America rotunda last weekend, shoppers were impressed but mall officials were not.
In a video shared on Facebook and YouTube, a man dressed as Santa Claus tossed 1,000 dollar bills from the fourth floor of the mall into the rotunda.
"Truely one of the coolest things I've gotten to be apart of," Ryan Flores wrote in his post on Facebook. "One of my best friends had an idea to throw 1000$ in 1's from the top floor of the mall of America."
Before reaching into a Ziploc bag filled with the $1 bills, Tyler Ketz, the man dressed in red said, "It's better to give than to receive, and spread some love this Christmas."
The Mall of America, however, said it's better to follow the rules and responded to the stunt by removing Ketz from the mall and banning him for 24 hours.
"Mall of America welcomes acts of kindness every day -- especially during the holiday season," the Mall of America said in a statement. "However, this incident created an unsafe environment for our guests -- many of whom began reaching over the railings to grab the money being thrown into the space."
As dollar bills rained down to the levels below, shoppers scurried to get their hands on some cash. Some people can be seen reaching over the railing of the balcony as money fell.
At least one shopper described the experience as "magical." In the caption for this photo below, the Facebook poster wrote: "Saturday was my daughters 8th Birthday. We had just arrived at the mall with her & her friend to go on rides. We took the first elevator down to the first floor and when we turned the corner money was falling! She was able to get $1 and will forever have the memory that it rained money on her 8th Birthday!!! #magical"
Ketz insists he wasn't trying to cause trouble and only wanted to share some of his good fortune. Ketz told Fox 9 that he recently won nearly $6,000 on a slot machine and instead of spending all of the money on a high-end television, he wanted to do something charitable.
Ketz isn't the first to throw money into the rotunda during the holidays at the Mall of America. Four years ago, another man was removed from the mall for the same stunt.
