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Around the same time news came out of a shooting at a mall in Ohio, reports have come out of another shooting at The Oaks Mall in Thousand in Southern California; while originally believed to be an active shooting situation, it has been confirmed that one person has been killed and another person was injured in what police believe could have been an attempted murder-suicide.
What happened?
According to authorities, a safety zone was being developed across the street and the county fire department says the injured victim is being treated at a hospital.
At this time, it is believed that the situation is contained and the shooter does not possess a threat to the public. According to NBC Los Angeles, it was confirmed that the situation was not an active shooting situation, but was a targeted incident. It is also believed that the shooter and the man injured according to earlier reports were one and the same but this has not yet been confirmed by police.
At this time, neither the female victim nor the shooter has been identified; police are searching the homes of both the shooter and the victim to collect more information. Sheriff’s department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Buschow confirmed that the victim had two children, although police confirmed they were alright:
“We’ve checked on them and they are OK. That was a major concern for all of us.”
Thousand Oaks Acorn listed many testimonies from eye-witnesses to the incident; one such figure, Autumn Montano, a 19-year-old college student, gave the following statement:
“All of a sudden we heard people screaming.”
“We saw everyone running toward the food court so I just freaked out.”
The situation is now believed to be a murder-suicide situation
Police originally issued the following statement on Twitter:
“TOaks Police are on the scene of a shooting at the Oaks Mall. The situation is contained and there is no threat to the public.”
ABC 7 confirmed that people at the mall were told to that they could go to the Ventura County Fire Station 30, which would function as a safety zone.
As this story is developing, more information will be updated as it is released.