BRAINTREE, Mass. — Massachusetts State Police said two male suspects have been arrested following a shooting at the South Shore Plaza mall in Braintree on Friday night.
Police said an innocent bystander, a 15-year-old girl, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Boston Medical Center.
She was shopping when the shooting happened around 4:43 p.m., according to officials, which they said was a targeted incident of violence and not an active shooter situation.
Stores were immediately placed under lockdown and anyone inside a store was told to stay put. The lockdown and shelter-in-place of surrounding neighborhoods was later lifted.
Police said the two male suspects, 20 and 21 years old, fled the mall on foot following the shooting and were later found and arrested on Granite Street near the mall.
CONTINUING COVERAGE on @boston25: Female with minor injuries after being shot inside South Shore Mall. Two men in custody. Shoppers in lockdown still leaving mall at this time. Shooting was targeted. Fight had broken out between two groups. #Braintree pic.twitter.com/SfCvXJbQK1
— Christine McCarthy (@ChristineMNews) July 3, 2020
Multiple witnesses who were inside the mall told Boston 25 News Reporter Wale Aliyu they heard people fighting over shoes and then saw someone pull a gun out of a fanny pack and fire multiple shots.
Police say at least six shots were fired as they found six shell casings.
“First we thought a balloon popped or something fell, but then we heard people start screaming and say, ‘Oh there’s a shooter, there’s a shooter’ so we started running for the exit,” said Maya Ashu, a witness who was at the mall during the shooting.
Neema Kangethe, a witness, spoke to Aliyu while trapped inside during the lockdown, huddled in the basement of the mall.
“They are just saying to stay calm and we are just waiting for them to say, ‘Ok.’ It was pretty scary, we were shaking a lot,” Kangethe said.
“I saw a guy with a white shirt and fanny pack and he had pulled out his gun because they were arguing over shoes and they started shooting.”
Marie Bagunda, a witness, said everybody was screaming and running.
"There was a flood of people running out the exits and some people were running into the stores and they were locking the doors," Bagunda said.
No firearms have been recovered.
Anyone with video of the incident or any information that could help police in this investigation is asked to send it to tips@braintreema.gov.
This is a developing story. Stay with Boston 25 News for the latest details as soon as they become available.
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