Mall fight leads to gunfire
The Columbus Dispatch
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All Rights Reserved
Alayna DeMartini
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Christmas shoppers at Eastland Mall darted into stores for cover Friday night when a fight among several men led to gunfire.
One man was shot. He was hospitalized Friday night.
Police said the fight involved three to five men who were arguing with another man in front of the Lazarus-Macy’s department store shortly before 7 p.m.
One yelled, "You owe me!" said Roderick Hale, a salesman who was on break and near the store when the shooting occurred.
Witnesses said there was an exchange of gunfire. Hale said one man pulled out a gun and fired at least five shots at the victim.
After the shootings, the men bolted for nearby exits. A shopper chased at least one of them, Hale said, but no one was caught. Police said more shots were fired outside the mall.
"There are multiple shell casings inside and outside the mall," said detective Sam Feldman.
The man who was shot, identified as Michael McKee, 19, of 4596 Stratford Lane, ran from the mall and later was brought to Mount Carmel East hospital by a private car, police said. It’s unclear who brought him.
McKee was transferred to Mount Carmel West. A spokeswoman for the hospital said McKee was in stable condition and still being evaluated in the emergency room late Friday night. Police said he was shot in the back.
About 50 yards away from the shooting, children were lined up to visit Santa Claus.
A witness told WBNS-10TV that the children were herded to cover in a nearby store when the gunfire broke out.
The children didn’t realize the noise was gunfire, said Perry J. Basten, the mall’s marketing manager.
Shortly after the shooting, the entrance to Lazarus-Macy’s was marked off with police tape. The store, however, remained open, although a few stores nearby soon closed.
"I was just nervous, shaking . . . I started running," Hale said.
He ran into the men’s clothing store where he works. Shoppers fled into stores, then many left the mall.
Mall guards were in front of Lazarus-Macy’s within seconds, but both the shooters and victim were gone, said Columbus Police Sgt. Howard Welty.
Friday night’s shooting was not the mall’s first.
A 16-year-old boy was shot and injured outside the mall in November 2001 after an argument between two groups of teens.
Police late Friday night said another shooting that occurred not far from the mall — on I-270 near Rt. 33 — was thought to be a continuation of the argument, but later they reconsidered.
That happened about 7:30 p.m. when the shooter fired from one car into another. No one was injured or caught.
Kelly Moore was in the mall during last night’s shooting and said it likely will be her last trip.
"If this is what it’s going to be like, we’ll just not come back," she said.
No signage barring firearms that I remember.
