Ghost gun allegedly used in KOP Mall shootout with police
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (CBS) -- The gun used in a shootout with police outside of the King of Prussia Mall on Sunday was allegedly a ghost gun purchased on the streets of Philadelphia. It first started as a hit-and-run crash that turned into a violent confrontation during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.
Police say 27-year-old Andrew Wiley allegedly admitted to shooting at an officer five or six times after attempting to drive away from a hit-and-run crash.
"You have the largest shopping mall by retail space in the country, Sunday before Christmas," Upper Merion Township Police Chief Thomas Nolan said. "It could have been very, very different."
The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office says Wiley used a ghost gun he bought for $600 on the streets of Philadelphia.
"These are weapons that are often mostly built when they arrive and then you finish them at your home," CeaseFirePA executive director Adam Garder said.
CeaseFirePA is a nonprofit advocating to reduce gun violence and says these guns are almost untraceable.
"We've seen the use of ghost guns and their recovery skyrocket from just a few dozen to hundreds in the last year and that's only in Philadelphia," Garder said. "When you expand it to the rest of the counties and the rest of the state, the numbers would be higher."
Police say the suspect went to the mall because he was depressed and thought shopping would help. Investigators say he panicked once he collided with a car because he had no insurance.
"Several other Upper Merion officers tried to stop the car in the parking lot," Nolan said, "but the vehicle started to drive at a high rate of speed and was planning on leaving the mall parking lot when it got stuck in traffic."
Police say he then drove the red Nissan Juke off of a four-foot stone wall crashing into the parking lot of the Seasons 52 restaurant. Wiley told police he accidentally shot himself in the thigh before the shootout started.
Then police say he drew his gun and was shot again in the leg by an officer.
"The actions of this officer in this case were heroic," Nolan said. "It's a miracle that the officer was not injured, and we don't have a worse situation right now."
Shoppers say the chaotic scene left them shocked especially so close to the holidays.
"It's not even that welcoming to even come in your own area because there's danger everywhere," one shopper said. "It doesn't just have like one specific location so you just have to be safe."
No one else at the mall, including the police and the hit-and-run victim, was hurt.