BRAINTREE, Mass. — The South Shore Plaza in Braintree reopened its doors Sunday after a 26-year-old man was shot inside the mall on Saturday. The victim, who’s in grave condition, was taken to a Boston hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Police still haven’t made an arrest in this shooting.
For the 2nd time in two years, it was a scary and chaotic moment as people ran for their lives after hearing gunshots.
“Everyone was like evacuate, evacuate,” said witness Tori Phillips.
As people rushed out of South Shore Plaza, they saw SWAT teams, choppers, K9s, and a traffic nightmare.
“We just got running,” said witness Ken Chu. “We didn’t take our keys, our belongings, anything.”
“I heard people on the phone with their parents saying somebody got shot six times,” said witness Djalissa Monteiro. “People were crying because their parents were still in their people were looking for their daughters and their sons. It was a lot.”
Police say around 3:00 p.m. Saturday, someone pulled out a gun inside a store and shot a 26-year-old man from Boston before they fled the scene. Witnesses told Boston 25 News the shooting happened inside a Forever 21.
“Broken glass window, there was glass on the floor,” said witness Benjamin Walinjom. “There was, I think, a manager or something. She was running around. She was like, ‘He went that way.’ Everything broke loose. Everybody’s running out, alarms, all the doors were shut.”
The mall went into lockdown for a few hours. Braintree Police confirmed to Boston 25 News the South Shore Plaza is expected to reopen to shoppers at noon Sunday.
“Some of the coworkers were still in there and were not allowed to leave,” said Monteiro. “I was told to go back inside, but I couldn’t. I was scared, especially not knowing where the person was or what was going on. Nobody was updating us. I didn’t know where to go.”
Police eventually evacuated and closed the mall for the rest of the night to assist investigators. Boston 25 News asked Braintree Police Chief Mark Dubois if the mall needs to install medical detectors.
“There’s a lot of security mitigation,” said Dubois. “We work with the management here. There will be a re-evaluation after this incident.”
“I advise everyone to do online shopping because Braintree, this is like a yearly thing,” said Phillips. “This is crazy. This should not be happening.”
Police say the shooting is believed to be a targeted event and does not appear random. They continue to say that there was no danger to the surrounding neighborhoods. Mass State Police say at last check the victim is still in critical condition.
The search for that suspect is still ongoing as the investigation into the incident continues.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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