1 injured, suspect in custody after shooting at Town East Mall in Mesquite
MESQUITE (CBSNewsTexas.com) - One person is in custody and another is injured after a shooting at a Mesquite mall Saturday.
Officers with the Mesquite Police Department were called to a shooting inside Town East Mall just before 7 p.m.
According to the report, one victim was struck by gunfire and was taken to the hospital. They are currently in stable condition.
MPD said within five minutes, officers found and took the suspect, 39-year-old Zettie Minter, of Dallas, into custody.
"There is no indication that was an active shooter incident," a statement from MPD reads.
The investigation revealed Minter and the victim knew each other, MPD said, and the incident resulted from an altercation between the two inside a store on the lower level of the mall.
Lisa Amico and her daughters were at the mall for some back-to-school shopping. They had no idea the day would end like this.
"We had one shopping bag with us we were just about done and all of a sudden we heard a loud loud noise," said Amico. "And I knew it was a gun shooting and all of a sudden we saw people running screaming crying. It was scary. It was really scary. We didn't know what was going on. We didn't know where the shooter was."
The family hid behind a wall until employees at a nearby restaurant welcomed them in. Inside that restaurant, 30 to 40 people were packed inside, sheltering in place, not sure what was going on outside the restaurant's doors.
The Amico family is shaken up but grateful to be safe.
Two mall employees told CBS News Texas they moved customers into their stockroom to keep them safe, adding they were just trained how to respond to emergencies like this a few weeks ago.
Minter is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
The Mesquite Police Department thanked Town East Mall security officers who quickly detained the Minter and directed officers to his location.