El Paso Mall Food Court Mass Shooting

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At least one person was killed after a gunman opened fire in a Texas mall food court Wednesday, cops said.

Police said the shooting started around 5 p.m. at the Cielo Vista Mall in East El Paso. Officers said that four people have been shot, one fatally.

Two of the victims were rushed to the hospital in critical Police said one person was taken into custody, but that cops are still searching for another individual that may have been involved in the deadly shooting.

Former White House official Olivia Troye said her aunt — a survivor of the 2019 Walmart massacre — was inside Cielo Vista mall when the shooting started.

“What is it going to take to enact change?!” Troye tweeted.

Officers did not provide a possible motive but said the shots immediately sparked a frenzy inside the massive mall.

“It was chaotic. People did flee. They were scared,” Sgt. Robert Gomez, who was inside when gunfire erupted, told CNN.

The Cielo Vista Mall is located in the same shopping center as the El Paso Walmart where Patrick Crusius gunned down 23 people in a racially motivated 2019 attack.

Authorities said the suspect who fatally shot one person and wounded three others at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, was taken down within minutes by an off-duty police officer.

During a press conference Wednesday evening, El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said an off-duty officer, who was not identified, was already at the Cielo Vista Mall when the shooting started.

Pacillas said police received calls of a suspect firing off several rounds, striking at least four people, at approximately 5:05 pm and the officer took a suspect into custody by 5:08 p.m.

The officer also took the suspect down without firing a shot, the police chief said.

Later in the press conference, Pacillas said it is unclear at this time if the suspect fired at the off-duty officer and that investigators were only just beginning to investigate the crime scene.

All individuals involved in the shooting are males, the police chief said, including the three victims, who remain hospitalized.

During a question and answer session, Chief Pacillas did not disclose the ID of the victims, but clarified at least one was "working at the store" when the shooting took place.

Pacillas also said no officer fired shots at the scene and that no officers were injured.

A 16-year-old who fatally shot a man at Cielo Vista Mall on Wednesday was shot and wounded by a bystander as he tried to flee, police said Friday.

The person killed in the shooting, in which three others were injured, was identified as Angeles Zaragoza, 17, of El Paso.

A 17-year-old El Paso man who was in a group with Zaragoza was shot and wounded by the 16-year-old suspect, police said in a news release Friday night. A 20-year-old Clint man who was in a group with the 16-year-old suspect also was shot and wounded, though the police press release didn’t say who shot him.

The 16-year-old suspect ran from the shooting scene and began pointing his gun at bystanders, including Emanuel Duran, 32, of El Paso, police said. Duran drew a handgun he was carrying and shot the 16-year-old, the news release said.

Duran and an off-duty police officer working security at a mall store rendered aid to the 16-year-old and the other gunshot victims until first responders arrived, the news release said.

The news release is the first time that police have acknowledged that a private citizen shot and wounded the suspect. El Paso Matters initially reported on Wednesday that a private citizen had intervened, citing a source who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The police news release said Duran had a license to carry a firearm, although Texas law since 2021 has not required such licenses and permits anyone who legally owns guns to carry them in most public settings.

Cielo Vista Mall, like many private businesses, posts signs prohibiting weapons on its premises. Under Texas law, carrying a firearm in such a location is a Class C misdemeanor. However, that law generally can’t be used against a person with a license to carry a handgun, if the handgun is carried in a holster.

The news release said the shooting occurred at about 5:05 p.m. Wednesday following an altercation between two groups near the food court. Officers on the scene told police dispatchers that the shooting occurred outside Greatest Grillz, a business near the food court.

According to the release, one group included Zaragoza, the 17-year-old who was shot and wounded, a 16-year-old male, and two girls, ages 14 and 17. The second group included the 16-year-old suspected gunman, the injured 20-year-old Clint man, and two boys ages 15 and 17.

Police haven’t provided details of what led to the fight, though Interim Police Chief Pete Pacillas said Thursday that it was not gang related.