A man shot during an altercation at an Alabama mall, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring three others, including a girl.
It happened mid-afternoon Friday at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, a Birmingham suburb, police said.
The boy who died was Royta Giles, a student at Jonesboro Elementary School who was heading to third grade.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into a shooting at the Riverchase Galleria Mall on Friday, July 3, 2020, in Hoover, Alabama, which left an 8-year-old boy dead and three other people hospitalized.
(The Birmingham News via AP)
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“The principal, Dr. Anjell Edwards and staff describe him as a smart kid who was a gem, with big dreams of one day entering the music industry,” the school district, Bessemer City Schools, said on Facebook.
“He was brilliant, articulate and very convincing. We even tried to convince him to become a lawyer, “says Van James, a former deputy director.
The names of the injured victims were not released. The young woman’s age was not released. The other victims were an adult man and an adult woman, police said.
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“This is certainly a tragic situation, when you have an innocent child who is caught in the middle of an altercation among others,” said Police Chief Nicholas Derzis, according to Fox 6 Birmingham.
A woman who witnessed told the station that the shooter was a man and could be heard saying “clear this up” while firing the gun.
The mall was evacuated after the shooting and did not reopen for the rest of the day, according to reports.
It was expected to reopen on Saturday.
Riverchase Galleria was the scene of a 2018 shootout in which a teenager was shot and injured. An officer who responded to the shooting fatally shot another gunman, Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., who was initially believed to be the shooter.
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Bradford’s murder sparked protests by protesters who say he was shot because he was black, according to the Associated Press.
