Police search for 2 persons of interest in Gardens Mall shooting

The shooting at the Gardens Mall that forced an hours-long lockdown Wednesday afternoon was a targeted incident, and police are looking for two men who they say are persons of interest.

“Our investigation indicates this was a targeted shooting, not a random act, and was not an active shooter incident,” according to a Palm Beach Gardens Police news release.

Shoppers and employees heard gunshots erupt in the mall in Palm Beach Gardens shortly after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Officers were already at the mall when the shooting happened in the building’s west end, the release said.

The mall was locked down as officers searched for a suspect. The department did not say in the news release whether any suspect or suspects were found at the mall.

One person who was shot was later found at a hospital but was expected to recover, the news release said. It did not specify whether the person found at the hospital was also considered a person of interest.

One of the persons of interest who officers are looking for was a man wearing a purple hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. The second was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt with a multi-colored design on the front and blue jeans.

Debbie Holden was among the customers who were caught in the lockdown Wednesday afternoon. She was shopping at Talbot’s on the first floor of the mall and was about to pay at the check-out counter when she heard loud popping noises.

She, two other customers and two store employees hid in the dressing room area in the back of the store after the manager locked the doors. She commended the Talbot’s employees, who she said stayed calm and constantly checked if the women were OK.

She texted her family at 2:47 p.m. to say she heard what sounded like gunshots, that she and the other women were locked in Talbot’s and to “please pray,” she said. Police officers came about 15 minutes later with guns drawn and escorted them out of the building through a back hallway, as an officer banged on a door in the hall and shouted that police were there and to open the door.

“I felt safe with the police there, but still, it’s kind of scary going down this long hallway, not knowing, is the shooter lurking somewhere in here?” Holden said.

Hundreds of police officers were at the mall, she said.

“I just sat there and thought, ‘My word, it’s like the whole state of Florida’s come out,’” she said. “I literally could not believe all that was there.”

She waited outside of an entrance to Macy’s for nearly half an hour with a group of others who were escorted out before she asked an officer if she could leave. The officer told her she could, but that her car would be searched, “because we’re looking for the suspect or the suspects,” Holden said. She said police officers were opening the doors and trunks of every car that left.

The mall was “secured” about 5:30 p.m. as officers escorted out customers and employees, city spokesperson Candice Temple said in an emailed statement Wednesday. It remained closed for the rest of the day and reopened Thursday.

Authorities ask anyone with information to call the Palm Beach Gardens Police at 561-799-4445.