A 19-year-old man was killed Friday night in a shooting at a store in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, police said.
The victim, whose identity has not been released, was shot during a fight that happened on the first floor of Nordstrom, Police Chief Booker Hodges told reporters.
Mall security video recorded the altercation, which took place between two groups of between five and nine people. During the fight, a male pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots at the victim, Hodges said.
It was unclear what led to the fight. He said a group of five to seven people fled out a door after the shooting, and no arrests had been made as of late Friday.
Hodges expressed frustration with the situation, and called on anyone involved to turn themselves in.
“This is a tragedy and I’m really trying to contain how I really feel about this, but we’re going to catch these people, believe that,” he said.
He said his thoughts were with the victims’ family who are “having to bury one of their loved ones.”
“They’re in pain, and rightfully so, and for something that should not have happened,” Hodges said.
The shooting happened shortly before 8 p.m., and the mall was placed on lockdown. The mall tweeted at 10:10 p.m. that the lockdown was being lifted.
It occurred on the busy shopping day before Christmas Eve. Hodges said 16 officers were in the mall Friday, including one near the Nordstrom who heard the shots.
A bystander’s coat was grazed by a bullet but no other injuries were reported, Hodges said.
The mall, which opened in 1992, experimented with metal detectors at some of its entrances earlier this year, KARE has reported. The mall told the station then that it was testing options “that may allow us to further enhance” security systems.
Earlier this year, a man fired three shots in front of a store in the mall, the station reported.
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