Black Friday shooting may be gang-related, police say

Teenager is among three wounded at mall on the border of San José and Santa Clara.

- SANDRA MCDONALD

SHOPPERS at Westfield Valley Fair mall take cover in a store Friday before police gave an all-clear to leave.

(Shawn Kulasinham)

Black Friday shoppers were sent scrambling for cover after shots were fired at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in the heart of the Silicon Valley, injuring three, police said.

Three people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening gunshot wounds, according to the San José Police Department.

Those injured were a man, a woman and a 16-year-old girl, department spokesman Sgt. Jorge Garibay said in media interviews at the scene.

"This was not targeted at unsuspecting shoppers," he said. "Something occurred between two individuals that prompted the shooting."

Garibay said the two female victims were believed to be bystanders and were "unrelated to the incident."

He said the shooting suspect was believed to have fled before police officers arrived, and no gun was recovered.

On Saturday, the Police Department said that its preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect was involved in a verbal altercation with the male victim before pulling a gun from his waistband and firing.

"Initial information revealed the incident to be gang-motivated; however, the circumstances remain under investigation," the department said. They did not provide a description of the suspect.