RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. — One man is dead after a shooting inside the Saint Louis Galleria mall Wednesday afternoon, police confirmed.
Late Wednesday night, police took a person of interest into custody in connection with the shooting. Before taking the person of interest into custody, police said they were still searching for three or four people who fled the scene.
During a press conference at 4 p.m., St. Louis County police spokesperson Ben Granda said the man who died in the shooting was in his early 20s. His name has not been released. The other man who was shot remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
Granda said a dispute began inside the mall between two groups of people and led to the shooting. Granda said the relationship between the two groups of people is not known. It happened near the northwest portion of the mall, on the second floor near a pair of escalators.
The mall remains closed and isn't expected to reopen on Wednesday.
A police source told 5 On Your Side's Christine Byers that one of the victims was shot in the head and the other victim was shot in the arm. One of the victims was found outside the Champs Sports store, the source said.
The source said the shooter was last seen running into the mall with a pistol in his hand, and police are searching for four men and a woman who may have left the mall through Dillard's.
Several area law enforcement agencies responded to the scene.
Anyone with information on the man seen below should call the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210 or leave a tip with CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.
"We had a lot of people in the mall today," Granda said during a press conference. He said anyone who was at the mall on Wednesday should contact the police department.
A man who spoke with 5 On Your Side said he was inside the mall on his lunch break when he heard three gunshots.
"I knew what it was right away," he said, adding that other people seemed confused at first before he saw people running away from the gunshots.
The man described the shooting as happening near the Champs store. He saw a group of people gathering around a victim at the bottom of an escalator. He said evidence at the scene appeared to indicate the man was shot at the top of the escalator on the second floor and then fell down the stairs to the first floor.
5 On Your Side also reached out to several stores inside the mall. An employee at Forever 21 said they had to close their gates and shelter customers.
An employee at a nearby store said she heard several loud bangs that sounded like gunshots and then a security officer ran by and told her to lock the store’s gates and shelter in place.
A customer who was inside the mall told 5 On Your Side's Anne Allred that she was told to leave the building and said the shooting happened near the Champs Sports store.
Photos from the scene show fire trucks, ambulances and police SUVs on the parking lot of the mall in Richmond Heights. Several police cruisers were parked outside the entrance and police were directing traffic away from the mall.
5 On Your Side's helicopter was over the scene as one person was loaded into the back of an ambulance.
A mall employee told 5 On Your Side that the mall planned to open Thursday at its normal time of 11 a.m.
Previous incidents at the Galleria
Richmond Heights police have responded to the mall several times recently for reports of shootings and other incidents involving guns.
On July 5, an officer patrolling the parking lot “heard several gunshots,” according to the police summaries report. “Investigation led to the discovery of several spent shell casing on the upper level of the parking garage.”
Three days later on July 8, police confirmed two vehicles had their windows smashed in on the parking lot. Police also said a gun was stolen from one of the vehicles.
Back on Dec. 14, 2019, a person was shot during a robbery. It was a Saturday morning during the busy holiday shopping season. Police said the victim was shot in the parking garage, crawled into the mall and collapsed outside a store. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
