Black Friday shooting at Westfield Valley Fair mall may have been gang-related, police say
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
Black Friday shoppers were sent scrambling for cover after shots were fired at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in the heart of the Silicon Valley, injuring three, police said.Three people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening gunshot wounds, according to the San José Police Department.
Injured were a man, a woman and a 16-year-old girl, department spokesman Sgt.Jorge Garibay said in media interviews at the scene.
“This was not targeted at unsuspecting shoppers,” he said.“Something occurred between two individuals that prompted the shooting.” Garibay said the two female victims were believed to be bystanders and were “unrelated to the incident.”He said the shooting suspect was believed to have fled before police officers arrived, and no gun was recovered.
On Saturday, the Police Department said that its preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect was involved in a verbal altercation with the male victim before pulling a gun from his waistband and firing.“Initial information revealed the incident to be gang-motivated; however, the circumstances remain under investigation,” the department said.
They did not provide a description of the suspect.Shawn Kulasingham, 23, was at the mall with family when he said he heard a loud pop around 5:35 p.m., then saw a “sea of humans” running in every direction in the mall.
“It was a stampede,” he said by phone a few hours later.“The building was almost shaking.” Kulasingham grabbed his sister and father and ducked into the nearest store that looked secure, an Abercrombie & Fitch.
They hid behind clothing racks and cabinets while people panicked, he said.They spent about 20 minutes inside the store before staff asked them to leave in a single-file line with a police escort.
The parking lot was a mess, Kulasingham said, and he forgot his Black Friday haul — a coat he’d bought — ba...