Inside a packed Washington state mall gunshots rang out on Black Friday, injuring one person as hundreds of other shoppers hid inside stores.
Authorities said the shooting in Tacoma, south of Seattle, was reported just after 7 p.m. on Friday near the mall’s food court. The person shot was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, Tacoma police said. It\’s unclear what condition the injured person was in as of Saturday.
As of Saturday morning, there have been no reported arrests.
KOMO reports that officers working in the mall saw a small group get into a dispute that escalated with gunfire. The suspects fled the mall.
After the shots rang out at Tacoma Mall, which immediately went into lockdown, shoppers sheltered in place or hid inside stores.
“We were about to get up and I hear about six shots or something,” Daisey Dockter, who was finishing a meal with her aunt and uncle when gunfire broke out, told KOMO. “We all just start running toward the door. It’s a huge mob of people. Everyone’s kind of pushing.”
At least two uniformed officers were at a table in the food court when the shooting began and both rushed to respond.
In addition, more than 60 law enforcement officers from Tacoma, Pierce County, Lakewood, Puyallup and the Washington State Patrol responded.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss said police went in to conduct a “coordinated search” of the mall.
Fredrick Hoskins was shopping with his daughter when he heard gunfire.
“There was a boom, boom, boom … boom, boom, boom. Maybe like six shots,” Hoskins, who previously served in the military, told The News Tribune. “It sounded like a revolver, and it sounded like one shooter.”
The Tacoma Mall is the city’s largest shopping mall, with more than 100 stores.
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Devoted my whole life to words - reading, writing and trying to be original on social media. Got certified in digital marketing - still not cool enough to be an influencer. Finished a master’s degree focused in Literature, Publishing, Mass Media. Hobbies include traveling, reading and hoping that yoga will be the thing to finally teach me some patience. Would like to take over the world at some point, but that’s an optional dream. Maybe modern tech can help me do that?
