US

Cops Kill Gunman During Black Friday Chaos At Alabama Mall

Shutterstock

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:

A 12-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man were injured at a mall near Birmingham, Alabama, Thursday night after a fight led to one suspect pulling out a gun and shooting the other.

Witnesses told NBC News that hundreds of Black Friday shoppers fled the mall after gun shots were reported around 10 p.m. local time Thursday.

Hoover Police Captain Gregg Rector said the 18-year-old man was in serious condition after he was shot by the gunman after a fight, for reasons not yet known, broke out. The gunman, reportedly a 21-year-old man, was fatally shot by a police officer as he tried to flee the scene.

WATCH:

A nearby 12-year-old girl was also struck by a bullet, but police are not yet sure if she was accompanied by the shooter or man he was fighting. (RELATED: Gunman Fatally Shoots Woman in Catholic Supply Store)

She is being treated at Children’s Hospital and is in stable condition.

Multiple witnesses told WTVM that they heard as many as ten gun shots. The Hoover police chief said he was “very very proud” of his officers’ response to the incident.

Shoppers recalled a chaotic scene as people rushed for the exits, screaming and trying to find somewhere to hide.

“They [put] us in supply closets and locked the doors,” Lexie Joyner, a witness, told WBRC. “And then we sat there for five to 10 minutes, all freaking out.”

“And then they opened the escape-route doors, and we escaped through the escape-route doors,” Joyner added.

The mall, Riverchase Galleria outside Hoover, was expected to remain open until midnight and reopened at 6 a.m. Friday.

Follow Hanna on Twitter

Email tips to hanna@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.