iStock/Thinkstock(HOOVER, Alabama) — A shooting Thursday night at a mall in Alabama left one person dead and two teens hospitalized with bullet wounds, police said.
The shooting happened around 9:52 p.m. local time after a 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old man got into a physical altercation near the Footaction store at Riverchase Galleria mall, according to Capt. Gregg Rector of the Hoover Police Department.
The 21-year-old pulled out a gun and shot the 18-year-old twice in the torso before fleeing, police said. The 18-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital and was last reported in serious condition.
A 12-year-old girl, an innocent bystander, also was hit by gunfire, but she was alert, talking and taken to a nearby children’s hospital by a Hoover Fire Department rescue unit. She was last reported in stable condition.
The 21-year-old was spotted by two uniformed police officers, one of whom drew a weapon and fired on the alleged shooter, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The unidentified person was fleeing the scene when one of the police officers encountered him and shot and killed him,” Rector said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case per the request of the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis said late Thursday that the mall is expected to reopen after the investigation concludes.
“Several more hours of investigation,” he said, “but hoping to be ready for the morning.”
Hoover is a suburb of Birmingham.
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