INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – A 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg at the Independence Center on Thursday night, forcing the mall to be closed for the rest of the night.
Law enforcement officials from multiple jurisdictions – including Independence, Kansas City, Missouri, and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department – responded to the incident, according to an independence police officer handling the investigation.
According to Officer John Syme, a spokesman for the Independence Police Department, an altercation between two groups of people preceded the shooting.
Police detained another person on the scene and were looking for others involved in the initial altercation, Syme said.
“We are looking for other stakeholders,” he said. ‘That doesn’t necessarily mean they are a suspect or victim. It just means that they are somehow involved in the incident. Maybe they saw something. They may also have been part of it directly. ‘
The Independence Police Department confirmed the shooting in a post on Facebook at around 6pm and asked the public to stay away from Independence Center.
The shopping center is closed at night.
“Police officers worked outside of security and heard gunfire,” said the Independence Police in a Facebook post. Found a patient shot in the leg and provided life-saving medical attention. The person, a 16-year-old man, was taken to a regional hospital. Another person has been detained.
The shooting was reportedly near Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is located on the west side of the mall, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The off-duty officers applied “a pair” of tourniquets to the leg of the teenager who shot the victim to stop the bleeding before being taken to a nearby hospital.
Police will view security footage of shopping centers as part of the investigation.
Independence Center has recently been in the news after large-scale fighting led city leaders to impose a curfew on unattended minors near the mall and other malls in that hallway.
Several youths were subsequently detained hundreds of teenagers caused problems, including a handful of fights, in late October.
At least 10 people were arrested last weekend after another series of disturbances.
Businesses have been in the area adjust to curfew amid the spike in incidents at the mall that was saved from the edge of a foreclosure sale in February 2018 by Pacific Retail Capital Partners.
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