NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at a Nashville mall (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
The deadly shooting in a popular Nashville mall prompted an outsized response - and one crime reporter visiting from Ohio says police were “incredibly quick” to arrive.
Dave O’Brien, a reporter at the Record-Courier in Kent, Ohio, says he was in Nashville to check out CrimeCon - a convention of true crime enthusiasts. He happened to be at the Opry Mills mall watching a movie when the shooting erupted. Police say an altercation between two men left one of them dead and the suspect was immediately taken into custody.
The shooting couldn’t be heard over battle scenes in “Avengers: Infinity War.” But the film showing was disrupted when officers in riot gear came into the theater and told everyone to leave.
O’Brien says he grabbed his media credentials from his car, snapped photos and tweeted them. The mall was evacuated as police responded in force. Even the nearby Grand Ole Opry House and convention center were put on lockdown for a time Thursday.
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4:30 p.m.
Police say the 22-year-old man shot in a dispute at a Nashville mall has died and that a retired California police officer helped take the suspect into custody.
Police spokesman Don Aaron says police first got a call at 2:23 p.m about a shooting. He says the shooting followed an argument between two men in a hallway at the Opry Mills mall and that the suspect quickly surrendered.
According to Aaron, the suspect put his weapon on a counter at a ticket booth outside the mall and told the ticket taker he wanted no further trouble. Aaron says a retired California police officer, now living in Tennessee, stepped in and ordered the man to the ground. The suspect was then taken into custody.
Police say both the suspect and victim are both 22-year-old Nashville residents.
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This item has been corrected to show the suspect surrendered at a ticket booth outside the mall, not inside and that retired California officer now lives in Tennessee.
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3:50 p.m.
Frightened workers say they ran for the exits after a shooting a Nashville mall.
Authorities say a dispute between two males apparently led to Thursday’s shooting, leaving one of them critically wounded. Nashville police say the suspect was taken into custody and there no longer was any threat at the Opry Mills mall. Afterward, people then huddled outside as emergency vehicles converged on the scene.
Eighteen-year-old Jayla Chapple was in an employee meeting in the back of Moe’s Southwest Grill when two people bolted into the back of the restaurant to report the shooting in the mall. Chapple, a shift leader at the restaurant, says employees ran outside through a rear exit.
Says Chapple: “I really didn’t have time to think that much, but get out of there.”
With more than 200 stores, Opry Mills is Tennessee’s biggest outlet mall, featuring a movie theater, a celebrity wax figure museum, restaurants and more. It’s situated nearby ot the famed Grand Ole Opry and the sprawling Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
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3:45 p.m.
Authorities say the shooting at Opry Mills mall in Nashville appears to have been the result of a dispute between two males.
Metro Nashville Police said in a tweet after Thursday’s gunfire that the dispute left one of them critically wounded. Police say the shooting suspect left the mall complex and immediately surrendered. They add that there’s no further threat at the mall but law enforcement is sweeping through the complex as a precaution.
Meanwhile, people approached the mall concerned for loved ones there.
A woman, Tonya Young, says she raced to get to the Nashville mall when she heard about the shooting because her 17-year-old daughter works at one of its shops. Young was kept at a distance but says she found out her daughter was safe, but still trapped inside during the police sweep of the complex.
Young told The Associated Press she’s anxious to see her daughter, adding, “Until I physically lay eyes on her, I’m not going to be ok.”
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3:30 p.m.
Nashville authorities say a wounded person has been taken in critical condition to an area hospital after gunfire at a mall near the Grand Ole Opry.
The identity of the person wasn’t immediately released after Thursday’s shooting.
The Nashville Fire Department says in a tweet that the person was taken to the Skyline Medical Center.
Nashville police say in a tweet that a dispute led to the gunfire but they didn’t elaborate. They say a shooting suspect is in custody but that person also wasn’t immediately identified.
The mall is adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Separately, the Tennessee Highway Patrol says several of its troopers happened to be in a parking lot at the mall performing motorcycle training. A tweet by the highway patrol says those troopers present immediately responded and helped Nashville police secure a perimeter around the mall.
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3:15 p.m.
Police say a person has been shot in a dispute at a Nashville mall and that the shooting suspect is in custody.
Metro Nashville Police said in a tweet Thursday that there is no further threat at the Opry Mills Mall following the gunfire.
Police say the mall, however, is being swept by officers as a precaution.
The Nashville Fire Department says one patient was taken in critical condition to a hospital. Further details weren’t immediately known.
Numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles are seen outside the mall, with people standing in the parking lot.
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