Eastland Mall Shooting Part Of Ongoing Dispute
There are new leads in the shooting at Eastland Mall this weekend that left two people injured. Harper Woods Deputy Police Chief Jim Burke says they believe they know who the two shooters are and that the incident is part of an ongoing dispute.
"I don't want to call them kids, they're 18 to 20, 22 years old, but this has been an ongoing dispute since the summertime," he said, adding that the Detroit police have had repeated contact with the two groups over other incidents that occurred in Detroit.
According to Burke, "it wasn't any planned event. They just happened to run into each other at the mall, and unfortunately gunshots were fired."
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. near door 7 and outside the 4 Men and Champs Sports stores when the two groups of 18-20 year old men started arguing.
"The second group stood back, two males pulled out handguns and started shooting," Burke told WWJ Newsradio 950. "We believe there was a total of 4-6 shots fired at our victim and they made contact with him, shot him in the chest, while that was going on one of the store employees was standing out in front of his store and unfortunately was struck in the leg."
The two victims were taken to St. John Hospital on Detroit's eastside. Burke says both were listed as critical upon arrival, but the store clerk has been released, and the other victim, an 18-year-old man, is also expected to recover.
