Tracy Mall Shoppers Face Tense Moments After Shooting
TRACY (CBS13) - Holiday shoppers were suddenly put in harm's way when a gunman opened-fire into a mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
"It's really chaotic in the mall right now," said Cecilia, a shopper.
The shooter remains on the run.
The shooting happened at the West Valley Mall in Tracy, near Naglee Road. Shoppers felt fear and frustration after they were told they couldn't leave the mall.
Witnesses told police the shooter shot from outside the mall into the doors, but they never saw him leave the parking lot. So to try and keep shoppers safe, police forced them to stay inside the mall for almost an hour while they went car to car searching for the suspect.
"The mall just got shot up," said Cecilia.
A sliding glass door and two windows shot at the east entrance to West Valley Mall. As SWAT checked every car in the parking lot, Cecilia and her sister waited to be able to leave the mall.
"We limited people leaving and shut down the parking lot and conducted a search of all the cars," said Tracy police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sheneman.
After an hour of searching, police didn't find the suspect or a gun, so shoppers were finally allowed to leave
"You don't know if anybody got hit or killed or anything, so kind of scary," said Donnie Patterson, a shopper.
Tracy police have little to go on. They say they don't know what the motive was, how many shots were fired or where those bullets ended up inside the mall. They say it's fortunate nobody was hit.
"That is remarkable," said Sheneman.
There were tense moments for shoppers who worried about what was happening to their quiet city.
"It seems like there's been a rise in the crime out here," said Donnie.
There are security cameras right by where the shots were fired. Police will look at that video to try and get a better idea of what happened.
Based on witness reports, police are looking for a man in his teens or early twenties with long dark hair and about 5 feet 8 inches tall.
