7-year-old girl in critical condition after being shot at Mondawmin Mall Saturday
A 7-year-old was shot and critically injured Saturday afternoon at Mondawmin Mall.
At about 1:39 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to reports of shooting at the West Baltimore mall involving a boy, and when they arrived, they found a 7-year-old girl with gunshot wounds to the upper body.
The girl, who was shopping in the mall with her mother, is now in critical but stable condition at a hospital.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that two groups had an altercation inside the mall, on the first floor, when a individual fired a gun into a crowd while running away and unintentionally hit the child.
Police still were seeking the shooter.
“We will catch him,” Worley said at a new conference a few hours after the shooting. “Our detectives are working extremely hard to get photos out. He may as well turn himself in because we are going to come and find you.”
Iva Trader-Bey planned to shop at the mall with her 7-year-old granddaughter Saturday afternoon but found its doors locked.
“These young kids, these youth, they need a diversion, a positive diversion,” she said. She pointed from the parking lot to Douglass Frederick High School, which she graduated from in 1969. “It was an after school hub,” she said of the mall back then.
Trader-Bey said she would like to see more recreation centers for young people in this area of the city, particularly for kids without access to transportation.
Sandra Waters arrived to find the mall closed Saturday afternoon after the shooting.
“I think it’s terrible,” said Waters, a Baltimore resident who grew up within walking distance of the mall. “People should have consideration for kids. They can’t defend themselves or protect themselves.”
Waters, who was wearing a face mask with the words “Lamb of God” and “Jesus,” added that she would pray for the girl’s recovery.
At a news conference several hours after the shooting, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said urged the shooter to turn himself in.
“We cannot live in a world where people can’t, in Baltimore City, come to Mondawmin, get snickerdoodles, get a pretzel and just go about their lives because we have to be worried about somebody else’s stupid, petty beef,” Scott said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 410-396-2477.
