Multiple deaths reported in Texas mall shooting
EL PASO, Texas – Multiple people are dead and one male was in custody after a shooting Saturday in El Paso, Texas, according to authorities.
Police, who reported the shooting shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, said the scene was under control.
“We’re searching multiple scenes, but primarily the Walmart,” said Sgt. Enrique Carrillo of the El Paso Police Department, pointing to a nearby mall as another area of focus. “There is not an imminent threat. There is no active shooter currently.”
In a media conference televised on CNN, El Paso Sgt. Robert Gomez said citizens’ calls brought police to a Walmart and then to the Cielo Vista Mall. There were multiple victims, but he would not confirm how many were dead or the number or condition of the wounded.
NBC News reported that a University Medical Center of El Paso official said it had received at least 10 seriously injured victims and that some victims were taken to other hospitals. Gomez said only one person, a male, was in custody.
Olivia Zepeda, the chief of staff to El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, told CNN on Saturday that multiple people had been killed in the attack in or near the mall. She didn’t say how many victims there were.
In a tweet, the police department told people to stay away from the Cielo Vista Mall area and the area near the Walmart.
Videos on social media posted by shoppers show people fleeing the nearby mall. A family who was near Walmart during the shooting fled to a nearby Landry’s Seafood, hostess Sofia Cervantes told USA TODAY.
“They are in shock right now,” Cervantes said. “They were barely able to talk to us.”
Cervantes said the restaurant was on lockdown. The shooting comes just days after two people were shot and killed in a Walmart in Southhaven, Mississippi, south of Memphis, and the same week three people were killed at a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Joey Garrison, Olivia Sanchez and Samuel Gaytan