Teen charged after shooting at Eastridge Mall in Gastonia injures 3 people
A 17-year-old has been charged in connection with a shooting that wounded three people at Eastridge Mall in Gastonia on Friday afternoon, police said.
The victims were shot in the mall parking lot, Gastonia Police said in a news release Friday evening. Two fled into the food court area after being shot.
The two men and a woman were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police Chief Travis Brittain said.
Police had reported earlier that a fourth victim showed up at a Charlotte hospital, but it was later determined that the person was not shot at Eastridge.
Investigators are trying to determine if the teenage suspect and any of the victims knew each other. Police did not identify the suspect because he is a juvenile.
A handgun was found in the food court, police said.
The shooting was reported around 12:10 p.m., and lockdown procedures initiated, followed by an evacuation of the mall, police said. In some cases, shoppers and workers sheltered in place; others immediately left.
Someone was seen running from the mall toward a nearby wooded area, police told WSOC.
Officers entered the woods and found a 17-year-old male. A handgun also was found, police said.
After police questioned the teenager, he was charged with multiple felony offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon. Further charges may be pending. An investigation into a possible motive continues, police said.
The scene at Eastridge
Breanna Webb, who works for a shoe store inside the mall, said she saw two men with black plastic masks enter the food court as she headed to her car.
“I thought it was a bit weird, and it caught me off guard,” Webb told The Charlotte Observer. “I didn’t really know what to think.”
Minutes later, police officers “started coming in really fast,” she said.
Then police told Webb to lock the store’s doors. Eventually, officers escorted her and customers out of the store with their hands up, she said.
A manager at a different store in the mall told the Observer they heard several “pops” while crossing the parking lot. The manager thought the sounds came from a carnival game at the mall.
“It did not register in my head that it was gunshots,” said the manager, who asked that their name be withheld.
The manager said when they realized what was happening, they directed store staff and customers to hide in the stockroom. Police escorted them out after about 30 minutes, the manager said.
”The Gaston County police and responding officers are all heroes,” the manager said. “They had a quick and swift response.”
Victims in Eastridge mall shooting
Video posted on Facebook showed a man carrying a woman in his arms through the food court, blood-splattered floors, and first responders aiding a man in a camouflage hat next to a FedEx vehicle.
Brittain said officers who responded applied tourniquets and provided first aid to victims.
“At this point, the public is safe,” he said
Brittain said it is early in the investigation.
“We are going to ask for patience from everyone,” he said. “We are going to work as fast as we can, but we are going to work deliberate because we need to collect all the evidence that we need … to see this prosecution through.”
Mall officials, in a Facebook post, said Eastridge would remain closed the rest of Friday. Shoppers were asked to check back later about weekend hours.
Eastridge Mall started a curfew policy five years ago after there were fights and other problems at the mall, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. The curfew requires children age 17 and younger to shop with a parent or legal guardian after 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Staff writer Catherine Muccigrosso contributed to this story.
This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 1:24 PM.
