Black Friday traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States and elsewhere, with stores offering sales at discounted prices.
But tensions are sometimes high when hundreds of shoppers gather in one place, so it is not uncommon to see fights break out.
In a Takoma, Washington shopping mall Friday, a dispute between two people led to a shooting, which resulted in one person being seriously injured.
What exactly happened? Who is the shooter, and have they been arrested? Here’s what we know so far.
Shooting
As reported by The News Tribune, around 7 p.m. Friday, two people at the mall’s food court got into a dispute.
One person, who has not been identified, fired their gun, seriously wounding the other individual. The victim was tended to by police officers who were at the mall off-duty, and transported to a local hospital.
The victim remain in "serious but stable" condition.
"Everything is status quo. It’s an ongoing investigation and our criminal investigation division has been notified," Tacoma police spokesman Gary Wurges said.
No arrests have been made yet.
Witnesses Speak Out
Witnesses told the press that shoppers started running for their lives when they heard the gunshots, according to The New York Post.
"It was chaos. It all happened so fast," witness Kobe Marsh said.
"At first we didn’t realize. We stood there for about three to five seconds, but when saw a stream of people running we realized it was gunshots that we’d heard," Marsh added.
Shopper Bethany Villero said that shoppers started fleeing as soon as they heard the gunshots. "I saw people throwing up, I guess they were so scared," she explained.
Tacoma Mall
In a statement supplied to The News Tribune, Tacoma Mall — which is owned by Simon Property Group — thanked the police department.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, shoppers and retailers. We are grateful to the Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, and other first responders for their swift response," the mall said.
Mayor Victoria Woodards and Deputy Mayor Keith Blocker echoed these sentiments.
"Because the impacts of gun violence ripple out community wide, we continue to place high priority on public safety. As we learn more, we stand with everyone impacted by this event — we are stronger together," they said in a joint statement.
2005 Shooting
The Tacoma Mall was the site of a mass shooting back in 2005, when gunman Dominick Maldonado opened fire and injured six people, leaving one person paralyzed.
As ABC News reported, Maldonado was convicted of attempted murder, assault and kidnapping, among other crimes.
Sentenced to 163 years in prison, Maldonado unsuccessfully tried to escape from the Clallam Bay Corrections Center in 2011.
That same year, Maldonado married Quynh Maldonado, who apparently fell in love with him after seeing him on TV.
]]>The Inquisitr
