Wisconsin police say eight people were injured in a shooting Friday at a suburban Milwaukee mall and they are still searching for the suspect.
Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber gave no motive for the Mayfair Mall attack in a brief update about three hours after the 2:50 p.m. incident. He said the extent of the injuries to the eight, seven adults and one adolescent was unknown, but all were alive. He added that the shooter “was no longer on the scene.”
Weber said that according to statements from the injured, police were looking for a white male in his 20s and 30s and were working to identify the man. He called the mall an active crime scene and asked people to keep walking away.
Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said in an afternoon statement that a suspect was still at large after the Mayfair Mall shooting, where witnesses told WISN-TV they had heard what they believed to be eight to 12 shots.
WISN reported that at least five people were carried out of the mall on stretchers, at least two of whom were seated and appeared to be conscious. Some people remained at the mall while police searched for a suspect. The station interviewed several people outside the mall who said they had friends sheltering in tents inside.
Jill Wooley was inside Macy’s with her 79-year-old mother when they heard eight to 12 shots just outside the store’s entrance.
“We heard the first shot and knew immediately it was a shot,” Wooley told CBS58 in Milwaukee. “We both fell to the ground.”
Wooley said he didn’t see anyone, but the shots were “very close.” He added that they ran in the opposite direction to the basement of the store, where they then hid.
Trish Cox’s 19-year-old nephew works at the sporting goods store Finish Line. She said she was concerned that the store’s phone was not being answered. He was waiting frantically while FBI agents cleared the mall.
An agent who did not want to give his name said the mall was being cleaned “methodically”. Heavily armed FBI personnel were visible in the mall.
Mall operator Brookfield Properties said in a statement that they were “disheartened and angry that our guests and tenants were subjected to this violent incident today.” They declined to comment further.
The Mayfair Mall was the site of a shooting in February in which a city police officer, Joseph Mensah, shot and killed Alvin Cole, a 17-year-old black man. Police said Cole was on the run from the police; Mensah, who is also black, said he shot Cole because Cole pointed a gun at him. The shopping center was the subject of sporadic protests for several months in the wake of the shooting.
The Milwaukee County district attorney declined to press charges against Mensah, but the city this week agreed to a separation agreement in which Mensah will be paid at least $ 130,000 to leave the force.
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