COURTESY ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE
St. Louis County police say this "person of interest" is now in custody.
A "person of interest" in a deadly shooting at the Saint Louis Galleria was taken into custody on Wednesday night, St. Louis County police say.
The eighteen-year-old's name hasn't been released.
Police from more than a dozen agencies raced to the Richmond Heights mall following reports at 12:34 p.m. on Wednesday of a shooting. One man in his twenties was killed inside, and responding officers found his body on the first floor near the northwest entrance, police say. Another man was wounded in the gunfire but expected to survive. He was being treated at a hospital on Wednesday.
Police say the incident began as some kind of altercation between two groups that quickly escalated. After the shooting, three or four people fled toward Dillard's. In video from outside the mall, officers could be seen searching the surrounding area, sometimes with dogs, as other officers blocked off Brentwood Boulevard.
Customers and workers were initially locked down inside the mall as police systematically swept through the sprawling shopping center.
On Wednesday afternoon, police distributed a still image from surveillance footage showing the person of interest. Shortly before 11 p.m., St. Louis County police Sgt. Benjamin Granda announced they had taken the eighteen-year-old into custody without incident.
The investigation is still underway, police say, and investigators are still hoping to speak to anyone who was in the mall around the time of the shooting.
They ask anyone with information to call county police at 636-529-8210 about the shooting or the person of interest. They can also call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477 (TIPS) to remain anonymous and potentially collect a reward.
