The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Police: Video footage reveals more details of Danbury mall shooting
DANBURY — Video footage from inside the Danbury Fair mall has helped investigators develop a description of the gunman who police say is wanted for a shooting that wounded a teenager and sent dozens of customers and employees scurrying for cover Wednesday night.
Danbury Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour said Thursday they were continuing to search for the male shooter, who was described as possibly in his early teens with a thin build and shoulder-length dreadlocks.
“We are very confident that he will be identified very soon. We encourage him, however, to turn himself in as soon as possible,” Ridenhour said. “We still strongly believe that this is an isolated incident and that there is no ongoing risk to the general public at this time.”
Ridenhour said a 15-yearold girl was wounded in the shooting and was transferred Wednesday night from Danbury Hospital to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. The girl, who police originally said was 16 years old, was listed in stable condition Thursday.
The girl’s identity has not been released and Kevin Walston, interim superintendent of Danbury Public Schools, said he did not know whether she was a student in the district.
While many details remain unknown about the shooting, Ridenhour said Thursday mall security video has helped to provide more details about the alleged shooter and victim.
While Ridenhour said investigators initially did not believe the girl was associated with either group involved in an altercation that led to the shooting, he clarified Thursday that security footage revealed she was with one of the groups. However, he said it remained unclear whether she was the intended target.
Ridenhour said Wednesday the girl was considered an “innocent bystander.”
Ridenhour said the shooter and those involved in the altercation were seen on video fleeing the mall shortly after the incident, which occurred inside near the entrance to Macy’s.
The shooting sent customers and mall employees scurrying for cover and hiding in backrooms of stores around 7 p.m. Wednesday. The mall was locked down after the shooting and those inside were slowly released as police cleared each of the stores over a span of several hours Wednesday night.
On Thursday, business appeared to be back to normal as the mall opened on schedule and there was no evidence of the shooting
in the area around Macy’s. There was no police presence and there did not appear to be added security inside the mall.
A representative at the security office directed Hearst Connecticut Media to the mall’s management. A woman who answered the phone in the management office said no one was immediately able to comment.
Mall officials have not released a statement or returned messages seeking comment since the shooting occurred.
Danbury Mayor Joe Cavo declined to comment Thursday, citing the ongoing police investigation.
“I’m anxiously awaiting the investigation to proceed,” he said.
Ridenhour said the shooting occurred after two groups — one consisting of about eight people and the other with an unknown amount of people — got into an altercation. One of the people, who Ridenhour said Thursday appeared to be a male teen, was armed with a gun and opened fire. The bullet struck the girl, who police said was found alert and conscious outside the mall.
The shooting prompted a large police presence, which is “typical” under these circumstances when there could be an active shooter, according to Brian Foley, spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
Foley said responding officers are trained to initially treat the situation as if it’s a mass or active shooter.
“They had to approach it as an active shooter situation, until they could determine otherwise,” Foley said. “That’s when Connecticut State Police were called in to assist Danbury.”
But responding officers soon suspected that the shooting was isolated.
“Very preliminary information gave every indication that this was an isolated incident, where it was targeted and not a random mass shooting with an active shooter,” Foley said.
Foley, who said Danbury police are handling the investigation, said the initial priority for officers when they arrived was to provide medical aid to the victim.
“Even if it’s not an active shooter situation or a mass shooting situation, it is still a shooting none the less with a victim,” Foley said.
Officers then needed to preserve the crime scene, ensure the shooter was not in the mall, and that everyone else was safe and accounted for before interviewing witnesses and reviewing video footage, he said.
“The mall is going to have their protocols and each store is going to go into their lockdown procedures,” Foley said.