A 19-year-old man was killed Friday night in a shooting at a store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, police said.
The victim, who has not been identified, was shot during a fight on the first floor of the Nordstrom, Police Chief Booker Hodges told reporters.
Mall security video captures brawl between two groups of five to nine people. During the fight, a man drew a gun and fired multiple shots at the victim, Hodges said.
It is not yet clear what led to the fight. He said five to seven people fled through a door after the shooting and no one had been arrested as of late Friday.
Hodges expressed disappointment at the situation and called on all those involved to come forward.
“It’s a tragedy and I’m really trying to control how I really feel about it, but we’re going to catch these guys, believe it,” he said.
He said his thoughts were with the victim’s family, who “had to bury one of their loved ones”.
“They were in pain and rightfully so because of something that shouldn’t have happened,” Hodges said.
The shooting happened shortly before 8 p.m. and the mall was cordoned off.shopping mall tweets At 10:10 p.m., the lockdown was lifted.
It happened on a busy shopping day on Christmas Eve. Hodges said 16 police officers were inside the mall on Friday, including one who heard gunshots near the Nordstrom.
Hodges said a bystander’s coat was grazed by a bullet, but no other injuries were reported.
The mall, which opened in 1992, trialled metal detectors at some of its entrances earlier this year, KARE reported. The mall told the station at the time that it was testing options that “may allow us to further enhance” the security system.
Earlier this year, a man fired three shots in front of a store in the mall, the station reported.