Durham, N.C. — Durham police have confirmed three people were shot at The Streets at Southpoint shopping center on Friday afternoon. One person is in custody.
One of the people shot was a 10-year-old, who was hurt from a bullet ricochet. The child was taken to a local hospital with injuries not thought to be life-threatening.
Durham police chief Patrice Andrews told local media that the shooting occurred between two groups of people who knew each other just before 3:30. Authorities are speaking with several witnesses.
“The shootings in this city have got to stop,” Andrews said.
An additional three people were injured during the evacuation. Andrews said the shooting was never an active shooter situation as the individuals involved fled immediately after the shooting.
The shopping mall was locked down as law enforcement responded to the situation. The mall is closed until further notice, and a large police presence was on hand as of 5 p.m.
A Nordstrom employee told WRAL News he heard as many as six gunshots.
WRAL reporter Aaron Thomas happened to be shopping inside one of the mall’s stores on Friday.
“We were in the Express store, and I was looking around at one of the clothing racks, and all of a sudden, I see this swarm of people running,” Thomas said. “At that point, it’s like you don’t know what to do, do you run out or do you stay in the store and try to hunker down. We did lock down and they locked the doors.”
Police eventually helped escort shoppers out of the mall, and traffic backed up around the area as thousands tried to head for home. Part of Fayetteville Street was closed while officials directed traffic away from the mall.
WRAL photojournalist Keith Baker said people seemed to be walking calmly out of the mall and things appeared orderly around 4:30 p.m.
“The situation is still fluid, but of course we’re all deeply, deeply concerned,” said Middleton. “This is Black Friday. This is a huge shopping day. We know a lot of people are out after the holiday trying to do shopping.”
“Our first responders are on scene, and let’s let them do their work and securing the mall and treating any victims that there may be and apprehending anyone that needs to be apprehended,” Middleton said. “It’s really important that folks stay clear of the area and let our first responders get in there and do the work they’ve been trained to do.”
An employee of Sunglass Hut said, “We were working with customers, and then all we saw was people starting to run and screaming, and then everybody was just starting to panic.”
Photos shared with WRAL News appeared to show blood on the floor.
On Oct. 24, police were also called to the mall for a reports of shots fired after a large fight broke out in the food court. Multiple witnesses said a gun was displayed but not fired during the fight on that day just over a month ago. Instead, people likely heard a broomstick hitting a table during the fight, according to police.
