8 INJURED IN MALL SHOOTING; SUSPECT SOUGHT
Police were searching Friday evening for the suspect in a shooting at a suburban Milwaukee mall that left seven adults and a teenager injured.
Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber gave no motive for the attack at the Mayfair Mall in a brief update about three hours after the 2:50 p.m. incident near an entrance to the Macy’s store. He said the extent of the eight victims’ injuries was unknown, but all were alive.
He added that the shooter was “no longer at the scene” when authorities arrived.
“Preliminary statements from witnesses indicate that the shooter is a White male in his 20s or 30s,” Weber told reporters. “Investigators are working on determining the identity of that suspect.”
The chief said the mall would remain closed until further notice.
Witnesses told WISN-TV that they had heard what they believed to be eight to 12 gunshots. Some people remained in the mall while police searched for a suspect. The station interviewed several people outside the mall who said they had friends sheltered inside stores while the search was ongoing.
Jill Wooley was inside Macy’s with her 79-year-old mother when they heard eight to 12 gunshots just outside the store entrance.
“We heard the first shot fired and knew immediately it was a gunshot,” Wooley told CBS58 in Milwaukee.
“We both just dropped to the f loor.”
The Mayfair Mall was the site of a February shooting in which a city police officer, Joseph Mensah, shot and killed Alvin Cole, a Black 17year-old. Police said Cole was f leeing from police; Mensah, who is also Black, said he shot Cole because Cole pointed a gun at him. The mall was the target of sporadic protests over several months in the wake of the shooting.