13-year-old injured in Wheaton Mall shooting; 17-year-old arrested: MCPD
13-year-old boy shot inside Wheaton Mall; 17-year-old arrested
A 13-year-old boy was shot inside Wheaton Mall in Maryland, and a 17-year-old has been arrested, Montgomery County police said.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - A 13-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at Wheaton Mall in Montgomery County on Friday night, according to police. Another teen was arrested and charged for the attack.
What we know:
Officers responded to the mall around 6 p.m. for the reported shooting.
According to investigators, the shooting happened outside a Cinnabon and a children's play area on the mall's first floor. Police said Diego Rafael Turcios Avalos, 17, of Silver Spring, was sitting in the area. When a group of teens walked past him, police said Turcios Avalos stood up, took out a gun and shot at the group, hitting a 13-year-old in the ankle.
The victim was taken to an area hospital and is in stable condition, officers said Friday night.
After the shooting, police said Turcios Avalos ran toward Dick's Sporting Goods, where he ran into a security guard. The security officer detained Turcios Avalos at the store until the MCPD arrived.
A firearm was recovered from the scene, police said.
"Gun violence is something that we have a high focus on, on the recovery of illegal firearms and hopefully preventing these circumstances and these disputes from turning into something like this," Commander David Smith said.
Mall-goers react
What they're saying:
Some people who work at stores in the mall were shaken up by the incident.
"I was in work and next thing you know I just heard two gunshots. Pow, pow," one worker told FOX 5's Shomari Stone. "So I didn't really think anything of it and then maybe like five six minutes later, me and my co-workers seen all these police pulling up, coming through, so we kind of trying to figure out like what is you know going on… Next thing you know I seen some little Spanish boy got shot and he was getting pulled out on a stretcher."
When asked about his reaction to the shooting, he said, "it's broad daylight again. Like people with these guns, these young kids with these guns and these shootings and just all of this stuff going on. It's getting crazy man. I'm just at work."
Another individual recalled hearing someone screaming after the shooting.
"There were two really loud shots that went off and all of a sudden these this group of kids they just come running, screaming, ‘I got shot, I got shot, I got shot," she recalled. "This guy comes in limping. He looks too young to get shot in my opinion."
What's next:
Turcios Avalos has been charged with attempted murder, assault, and weapons charges. He is being held at the Central Processing Unit and is awaiting a bond hearing.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Montgomery County Police Department.