EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Police in El Paso, Texas, say a second person has been taken into custody following a shooting at a shopping mall Wednesday that left one person dead and three other people wounded.
Interim police chief Peter Pacillas said that Cielo Vista Mall was still considered a crime scene, and that it would remain locked down until authorities had completed their investigation.
Pacillas stressed that the danger had passed.
“There is no more danger. I want to repeat that: There is no more danger to the public,” Pacillas said.
The two people in custody and as well as the victims are males, Pacillas said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Police in El Paso, Texas, say one person was killed and three other people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday in a shopping mall.
One person has been taken into custody, El Paso police spokesperson Sgt. Robert Gomez said. No immediate information was given about that person.
Police were looking for another person who could have been involved, Gomez said. No description was given.
A weapon was recovered at the scene, Gomez said, but he could not provide more information about that.
“It’s too early to speculate on motive,” he said.
The three who were wounded were taken to local hospitals, Gomez said.
University Medical Center in El Paso said in a statement that two male gunshot victims were being treated there. They were in critical condition.
The condition of the third victim was not immediately known.
Gomez said police believe the scene is secure and that officers are sweeping through the whole mall to verify that.
“This is a large scene,” Gomez said. “It’s going to take some time to clear the mall.”
Authorities have set up a reunification center at a nearby high school.
Police earlier said the shooting was reported at the shopping mall’s food court.
Wednesday’s shooting at the Cielo Vista Mall happened in a busy shopping area and across a large parking lot from a Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack in 2019.
The United States has seen dozens of people killed in mass shootings so far in 2023, most recently Monday at Michigan State University, where three students were killed and five more were wounded. In January, 11 people were killed in the Los Angeles-area city of Monterey Park as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall popular with older Asian Americans.
In 2022, more than 600 mass shootings occurred in the U.S. in which at least four people were killed or wounded, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
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