One person was killed and another hurt when gunfire broke out in a Florida mall packed with holiday shoppers, police said.
People ran for their lives at the Paddock Mall in Ocala, about an hour north of Orlando, around 4 p.m. Saturday.
A man was found dead in a common area after being shot in the head, while a woman was shot in the leg, according to police.
Other mall-goers were injured while trying to escape.
Police believe the shooting may have been targeted and that the shooter is on the loose.
The suspect was described as a black male wearing a hoodie, police said.
Cops also recovered a firearm believed to be used in the deadly incident.
A local journalist volunteering at the mall at the time of the shooting said she saw the gunman only a few feet from her.
“I was volunteering at the wrapping station that raises money for the domestic violence shelter, and the gunman was probably about 10 feet away,” witness Jennifer Hunt Murty said. “We didn’t really have any protection other than tables with linens over them but we went to the floor, and everybody else was running, so we were very close to the shooting as it occurred, and had very little protection to hide.”
Murty, who hid under a table, said she believed she saw two people shooting.
Josh Pawchi, who got trapped inside the Kay Jewelers with his parents, posted a video to Facebook where his step-dad was telling someone on the phone that two people were “shooting at each other” outside of Chick-fil-A.
“He chased him and just kept shooting at him,” Pawchi’s stepdad could be heard saying in the footage. “They were going after each other.”
The Post has reached out to the Pawchi family for comment. Police did confirm that the deceased man was believed to be a part of the shooting, but did not say if he also had a weapon.
The mall has since been evacuated.
Megan Garcia was inside Kay Jeweler’s when she heard two gunshots go off, she told the Ocala Star Banner.
“I dropped everything and ran,” she said.
Melissa Ramirez, who was inside Starbucks when the shooting started, told the Gazette she and her sister had been shopping for Christmas gifts and had stopped to get a drink.
“We’re walking around Starbucks, we’re laughing, we’re smiling, joking about our drinks…next thing you know we hear ‘pop’ and we look back because we weren’t sure if it was just something, but then we heard ‘pop, pop,’ and that’s when I grabbed (my sister) and I told her to run,” Ramirez said.
“Everybody was screaming and running and pushing and trying to get out.”
Video taken by a bystander inside a Bath and Body Works shows customers hunkering down behind the cash registers before fleeing out the backdoor of the store.
Scared customers pushed and shoved each other as they made their exit, the footage showed. The young woman filming the video could be heard saying “mom” several times.