Photo courtesy of Hoover Beautification Board
2016 Beauty Awards Riverchase Galleria
The Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama.
Editor's Note: The most recent information about this incident can be found here.
A shooting at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night left one person dead and two people wounded with gunfire, Hoover police said.
The incident started at 9:52 p.m. when two adult men got into a physical altercation in the common area of the mall between the Foot Action store and J.C. Penney, Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said.
One man pulled a gun and shot an 18-year-old male at least one time, Rector said. Two uniformed Hoover police officers were very close by and rushed to the scene, and one of them engaged the gunman and shot and killed him, Rector said.
A 12-year-old girl also was struck by a bullet and taken to Children’s Hospital by the Hoover Fire Department, he said. The last police heard, she was alert, conscious and talking, Rector said. Police did not yet know who fired the bullet that struck the girl, he said.
The 18-year-old who was shot by the gunman was in serious condition at UAB Hospital, Rector said.
Because a Hoover police officer shot and killed someone, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department will investigate that shooting.
There were thousands of people at the mall at the time of the shooting, and videos on social media showed people running away when the shots rang out. Stores closed their doors and barricaded customers inside for safety until authorities notified them the situation was under control and they were free to leave.
Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said it was a sad day in Hoover, but he’s very proud of the Hoover police officers who were on the scene.
“We had our officers very, very close. They heard the gunfire, they engaged the subject, and they took out the threat,” Derzis said. “That threat could have materialized into a lot more people being injured. Thank goodness that did not happen.”
Rector said Hoover police always have a heavy presence at the Riverchase Galleria and other shopping areas in Hoover starting on Thanksgiving afternoon and continuing through the rest of the Christmas shopping season.
He said the Galleria is one of the safest shopping destinations and that in the mall’s 33-year existence, he could count the number of people shot on the property on one or two hands.
“Unfortunately, if you get thousands and thousands of people together in any venue, occasionally you’re going to have violence,” Rector said. “Unfortunately, it happened tonight.”
Derzis said he doesn’t understand it, but “for some reason, people think when they get engaged in some sort of altercation that it’s OK to pull out a gun and shoot somebody, and it’s not.” This was supposed to be a time for people to be at the mall to find bargains, not be engaged in this kind of “nonsense,” he said.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he was grateful for the professional response of the police officers and firefighters on the scene tonight.
“They acted with such heroism. They acted appropriately and quickly and acted in a way that prevented something that could have been much worse,” Brocato said. “They took a situation that was very grave, that was very chaotic and they neutralized that situation and got it under control quickly.”
Brocato said this was an isolated incident that could have happened anywhere in the country and unfortunately does happen all over the country. “People make bad decisions,” he said. “You don’t bring guns into a crowded mall. … Unfortunately, an individual lost his life and unfortunately one of our police officers had to engage that individual. But he did so as a professional. He did so at the risk of his own life, but he stepped in to protect thousands, and I’m grateful for that.”
Derzis said once the Hoover Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office complete their investigation, the mall will be turned back over to the control of mall management.
“Hopefully by tomorrow (Friday), everything is back to normal and people that want to come out and shop, we know this is a safe environment,” Derzis said. “Things can happen, but we want people to feel safe, and I hope that they will.”
See all stories about the Riverchase Galleria shooting here.
