Alabama mall shooting left at least four people hospitalized
HOOVER, Ala. – An Alabama shopping mall shooting left at least four people hospitalized on Friday afternoon, police said.
Multiple shots were reported near the food court inside Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Police Capt. Gregg Rector said in a press release. He said the victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment. “His conditions are unknown at this time,” authorities said.
“We do not know at this time what led to the shooting or how many gunmen were involved,” added Rector.
Authorities did not say if anyone had been arrested.
The mall has been evacuated “and the scene is safe,” police said.
Annalisa Pope, who works at Hollister at the mall, told WBMA-TV in a phone interview that she heard six or seven shots.
“It wasn’t just one or two,” he said. “That’s what took me by surprise. They (the shooting) just continued. “
She said the shots “sounded like they were coming from all directions.”
Hoover Police asked if there was someone at the mall who witnessed the shooting to call authorities.
“It felt so close,” he said. “It was very surreal. It doesn’t even feel real right now. You wouldn’t expect something like that to happen out of nowhere on a normal Friday afternoon. “
The mall in the Birmingham suburbs was the site of a 2018 police shooting where an officer fatally shot a black man with a pistol after mistaking him for the gunman in a previous shooting at the mall.
The shooting of Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., 21, sparked a series of protests at the mall. The Alabama attorney general’s office authorized the officer, saying he acted “reasonably under the circumstances” in the encounter that lasted approximately five seconds.
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