NC teen ID’d in fatal mall shooting. Her cousin was killed less than an hour earlier
In fast-moving developments Sunday, Concord police identified the 13-year-old girl who was shot and killed at a Concord Mills mall parking lot Saturday night.
Authorities also released surveillance images of someone they said was a suspect, and confirmed that the teen’s cousin was killed in Concord less than an hour earlier in the city.
At this point, police say they do not believe the cases are related.
Concord police identified the 13-year-old killed at the Dave and Buster’s mall parking lot as Aveanna Propst of Concord. She died at the scene, police said.
Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were also shot and have non-life threatening injuries, police said.
There have been no arrests yet in either homicide. Police said according to witness interviews, someone wearing a white-and-red checkered hooded sweatshirt was seen firing a gun.
At about 8:40 p.m. Saturday, police said they received a call about a fight outside the Dave and Buster’s parking lot, and as they were responding, shots were fired at the mall. One possibility that authorities are investigating is whether shots were fired from a car in the parking lot during a fight, police said.
Concord Chief Gary Gacek tweeted Sunday that the two boys were lucky to be alive, and asked for the public’s help with the case, saying, “It’s highly unlikely this ‘person of interest’ went to the mall alone or is otherwise anonymous! Someone knows who he is.”
Many questions about the fatal shooting remain, including what led up to it, how many shots were fired, what type of weapon was used and how much security had been in place at the mall at the time of the incident.
The earlier shooting
In the other homicide case, police were called to the intersection of Lincoln Street and Polk Avenue at 7:56 p.m. Saturday, according to a police report. That’s about 10 miles east of the mall.
The victim was identified as Derron Jordan, 31, and he was a cousin of Aveanna’s, Concord police Major Bobby Ledwell said.
While the two incidents are unrelated at the moment, both investigations are fluid, Ledwell said.
According to the incident report, Jordan worked at Bugui Auto Glass.
On Sunday night, police identified Omarionne Tymyrre Hudson, 16, of Concord, as the suspect in Jordan’s shooting. Police obtained warrants for Hudson’s arrest on a charge of first-degree murder.
Hudson is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached, police said.
Anyone with information on Hudson’s location is asked to call the Concord Police Department at 704-920-5000 or Cabarrus County Crime Stoppers at 704-932-7463.
A student full of life
Mario Black said he was following the story of the Concord Mills shooting Saturday night but had no idea that the victim was someone he knew until a colleague contacted him.
Two years ago, Aveanna had been a sixth-grade student in Black’s homeroom and social studies class at ACE Academy Public Charter School, a charter school in Harrisburg near Concord.
“I just kind of lost it,” Black said.
Students are like sons and daughters to him, he said. “This is like losing one of your own,” he said. “It’s just mind-blowing.”
In the classroom, Black said Aveanna loved to talk, even when she wasn’t supposed to. When he scolded her for ignoring her work, she would only smile, Black said.
“She was a student full of life and energy,” he said. “She didn’t make any strangers — always made her peers feel apart and welcome.”
Laila Minott, executive director of ACE Academy, said Aveanna was an eighth grader at the school and was set to graduate this year.
Minott said the school’s student and family service coordinator was at the hospital Saturday night. She said students were contacting teachers with questions related to the shooting.
The school has counseling resources and professionals in place for its 400 students and 50 staff members, Minott said, and is working to put up a temporary memorial on the property.
The school will open over holiday break for on-campus counseling services, Minott said.
‘She made everyone laugh’
ACE Academy eighth grader Laila Massey, 13, said she and Aveanna quickly became close friends after meeting in school. On the basketball team, they were both point guards and they shared classes together.
“She made everybody laugh. She’s an awesome teammate and kept everyone up,” Massey said.
Aveanna also liked to read and dance, she said. On Instagram, Aveanna would watch videos of other people doing viral dance moves, she said.
“It’s going to be different when she is not there,” Massey said.
Prior shooting at the mall
This was the second shooting at the popular outlet mall near Charlotte this year.
In March, a man was shot and wounded at the AMC Concord Mills 24 movie theater, the Observer reported at the time. That wound was not life-threatening, the Observer reported.
The shooting was the result of an argument over seating in the theater, police said.
The mall, which is about 15 miles from uptown Charlotte, is owned by Simon Property Group. Simon also owns two other area malls, SouthPark mall and Charlotte Premium Outlets in Steele Creek.
‘Terrified was an understatement’
Charlotte resident Christopher McKinnis said he was at Concord Mills at the time of the shooting Saturday. He said he was checking out at the Adidas store near Dave and Buster’s when he thought he heard gunshots.
“Then, we heard people yelling,” he said. “And all of a sudden a massive wave of people were sprinting.”
Next thing, he said, he felt that “terrified was an understatement. I couldn’t move for a second.”
McKinnis, 23, said he and his boyfriend ran and hid in the back of the store until an Adidas employee let them out the back door.
When they left the mall, McKinnis said there were police and EMTs outside the Dave and Buster’s.
“We saw the girl on the ground with paramedics trying to revive her, and what we assume was her mom... crying on the side,” McKinnis said.
McKinnis, a former UNC Charlotte student, said the shooting felt all too familiar.
“As soon as I saw people running, I immediately had flashbacks of the UNCC shooting from earlier this year as I was there for that as well,” he said. Two UNCC students died, and four others were wounded, when a gunman opened fire in their classroom in April.
‘Like out of a movie’
Jen Pasky-Jaquin, who lives in Indian Land, S.C., said she was in the mall with her 14-year-old daughter when the shooting happened. She said the mall made an announcement over the intercom, but she and her daughter couldn’t make it out.
“And then all the stores closed the metal bars right then, like something was happening,” she said.
Pasky-Jaquin, who relies on a wheelchair, said she started hearing sirens and saw hundreds of people running. “It was like out of a movie,” she said.
Pasky-Jaquin said she feels the mall is unsafe and she doesn’t plan to go back.
“I could close my eyes and see it all again,” she said. “Driving out — it was the hardest part.”
Staff writers Adam Bell and Joe Marusak contributed.
This story was updated on June 14, 2021, to reflect the correct spelling of Aveanna Propst.
This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 10:45 AM.
