27 August 2023 , 23:29
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Two boys, aged just 13, have been arrested after another boy was killed when gunfire broke out at a busy shopping centre. Armed police descended on the mall in Columbus, Ohio, after reports of an active shooter.
The child, who has only been identified as a minor under the age of 18, was rushed to the hospital but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
The Easton Town Center was placed on lockdown as police hunted for an active shooter who killed the child.
Police confirmed on Monday morning that two 13-year-old boys were arrested with one charged with murder and the other charged with obstructing justice.
It was later revealed that the boy was the only victim in the shooting — there were no other injuries reported.
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People inside the nearby AMC theatre and Lululemon stores were evacuated and a 'shelter in place' order was issued after the suspect or suspects allegedly opened fire.
Crime scene tape was set up near the LEGOLAND store in the mall. The scene was utter chaos as the masses of people shopping there were forced to evacuate.
A police helicopter was seen circling the area following the incident, which occurred at around 6:14pm. More than 70 officers reported to the scene.
One NBC reporter was reportedly in the theatre when he was told to evacuate with the others. Matt Barnes described the "panic" that happened for nearly five minutes on his Twitter account.
"There was a pretty good panic for 5 minutes or so. It has calmed down but no word on what led to all of this yet," he reported.
The identity of the victim has yet to be released as well — the only known information is that he was a minor. The authorities have allegedly recovered two weapons at the scene and several spent shell casings.
As investigations into the incident continued, the ramps near Interstate 270 leading to and from Easton Way were shut down — the police were hoping to locate the suspect by shutting off the area.
The mall's management team released a statement: "There is no longer an active situation. A weapon was fired at Easton at an outside area of the North District at approximately 6:15pm. At this time, Columbus Police are on site."
Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther also gave a statement promising the community that a whoever was responsible for the incident would be held accountable: "We're going to identify and capture all who were involved. We will not allow these shootings to diminish our sense of safety."
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A few Reddit users from Columbus who were at or near the Easton Town Center at the time of the attack described the incident in vivid detail. One, user u/notwillscheuster, was in the AMC when the shooting went down and recalls the moment they were asked to evacuate.
"I was in a movie at the AMC. All of a sudden I heard a super loud voice yelling from the back, but I initially couldn't tell if it was part of the movie or not," they wrote. "People started running down the stairs and leaving and thankfully I was able to get to my car and get home. So scary with no clear communication over what was happening!"
Another user, u/shinydeino, said they work at LEGOLAND and had just left work minutes before the horrific scene unfolded.
"i work at lego. i left work at 5:30 and went to piada across the street. was eating when the police tore past and the helicopter started circling," they wrote. "a few minutes later people started screaming and running past us and said there was a shooting. ran to my car. my coworkers (all safe) said it was very close to us and jeni’s."
Other Redditors described the mass of police cars, as many as 20 at a time, whizzing past them as they ate at nearby restaurants or shopped at stores on the other side of the mall. A common theme appeared to be that nobody was informed what was happening, and very little communication from the police helped to mitigate the situation.