1 Dead in Shooting at Iowa Mall; Suspect in Custody
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A shooting near the food court of a popular Iowa mall left one female dead and stunned shoppers Friday night, police said.
Witnesses reported hearing gunshots inside the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville sometime after 7 pm They said that a male gunman shot at least one female victim, then fled.
The shots and the report of the gunman caused some shoppers to rush out of the mall and others to take cover inside until the threat cleared.
One female was killed in the shooting, Iowa Department of Public Safety spokesman Alex Murphy confirmed late Friday. The victim's identity was being withheld pending notification of her family.
Troopers with the Iowa State Patrol and Scott County Sheriff's deputies arrested the shooting suspect during a traffic stop on Interstate 80, about 50 miles east of the mall in Davenport, Murphy said. The suspect wasn't identified.
Murphy said there was no reason to believe there were any additional suspects, and the public is no longer in danger.
Authorities have released no additional details, including a possible motive for the shooting.
The mall is along a busy stretch of Interstate 80 in Coralville, a normally quiet, suburban community of about 19,000 people in eastern Iowa. Coral Ridge is the second-largest mall in Iowa, and it has long been a regional shopping destination, AP reported.
Police from several local agencies sped to the mall after the shooting was reported. Some shoppers and workers were told to evacuate immediately after the shooting, while others remained on lockdown for more than an hour, authorities said.
