TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Witnesses are speaking out about their experience inside Park Place Mall after a shooting Wednesday night.
Tucson Police say two people are in the hospital, but no one else was injured.
Several witnesses say they left the property seconds after hearing shots or sheltered in place inside the mall until it was clear.
One of those witnesses, Kyle Peart is a father of five. He says he was at the mall last night after getting dinner with his teenage daughter.
He says they were a few stores down from the food court when they heard shots nearby.
“I knew immediately. Within the first gun shot, I grabbed my daughter and we went towards the emergency exit," he said. "I didn’t go towards the sound. I wasn’t carrying myself, and nor did I want to put my daughter in that danger, so we went straight for the emergency exit. We actually triggered the alarm. The moment we hit the door, the whole place went up in sirens.”
Peart, his daughter and several other people were able to leave through the emergency exit and get safely to their cars.
He's offering up his ministry services for anyone at the mall who may want to talk or process what happened.
Another witness, Shea Lester said she also ran from the mall when she heard shots at the food court while getting a cup of water.
"I thought it was a balloon that popped, so I looked around for that," Lester said. "Then it was like 6 or 7 miore shots that popped off after that and I just saw everyone running."
She says he was able to leave through Dillard's.
Others say they hid in stores until the coast was clear.
"We heard the gunshots, we thought was something felt like a [ladder] or chair, something like metal," said Karina Ruiz-Lopez. "We saw how people started to run so my [daughter] pulled me over the H&M, and we tried to refuge there."
Anyone with information on the shooting can call 88-CRIME.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
