Hoover Police are at the scene of a shooting inside Riverchase Galleria, the state’s largest shopping mall.
The shooting occurred on Friday afternoon. Witnesses said it sounded like firecrackers inside the mall. They all started running. Police then ran to the mall.
Danno Allgrove says he was shopping with his mother at the Torrid clothing store inside the Riverchase Galleria when the shooting was fired on Friday afternoon.
“We were talking to one of the staff members about one of the dresses and then there was a loud bang followed by at least five other small bursts,” said the 28-year-old Vestavia Hills resident.
“Immediately after the shooting, the Torrid staff worked very quickly and efficiently to get everyone to the back of the store, to the emergency area, and kept everyone calm until they heard that other people were leaving. ” .
When they received clearance, they were allowed through an emergency exit to a parking lot, Allgrove said. “It was scary because you didn’t know where they were, you didn’t know if they were going to target, you didn’t know how many there were,” he said.
When Allgrove and his mother drove to his car to leave the mall, he says they saw several officers outside The Children’s Place, a children’s store.
“I saw the girl who was beaten, she was lying in a pool of blood and there was an officer who applied first aid and compresses to stop the bleeding,” he said.
Other buyers also reported that a boy was shot.
Hoover Police reported that the scene is contained. Police said they are still collecting information. “Unknown victims and injuries. More to follow, “police said in a Tweet.
A conscious woman was seen by a journalist carried on an stretcher to an ambulance. A blood trail was also found that led to the South Parking platform. The road stopped on a sidewalk, leading authorities to believe that someone got into a car.
The gallery has been the scene of several high-profile shootings in recent years.
Emantic Fitzgerald “EJ” Bradford Jr. was shot and killed on Thanksgiving night 2018 inside the Gallery by a police officer responding to a shooting. The shooting sparked a wave of protests. State officials later announced that the unidentified Hoover police officer was justified in the fatal shooting.
On June 26, 2019, Hoover police and firefighters responded around 1:30 p.m. to the fifth floor of the North Parking Deck. When they arrived, they found a man inside a vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
AL.com reporter Connor Sheets contributed to this story.
This story will be updated
