A 16-year-old girl was arrested and charged for a shooting that took place at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Mississippi on Saturday (Sept. 17).
Ridgeland Police Chief Brian Myers said the shooting happened around 5:20 p.m. when Za’Lill D’Chelle Patterson, 16, of Jackson, Mississippi, attempted to steal a drink from a popcorn stand inside the mall. When the store owner tried to stop her, Patterson pulled out a gun. The store owner shot Patterson in the leg in self-defense.
According to reports, shoppers, including parents with their kids and elderly people inside the mall, immediately fled the scene, scampering for their lives. “Here they come, shooting. Pow! Pow! I heard eight or nine shots because I’m a manager up here. Customers came to the back, and we let them out because we’re scared. Then, that’s when I saw it. The girl, she was laying right there. She was shot and hopped down there in front of our building. I was scared. I was scared,” Jayce Alyse, a mall employee, told WJTV.
According to Myers, after the shooting, Patterson was transported to a local hospital to be treated for her injuries. She was then booked into the Madison County Detention Center and charged as an adult with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. No bond has been set at this time. As for the store owner, he has reportedly been interviewed and cooperative with the police and has not been charged with anything at this time.
“We are so fortunate that no one else was injured in this incident,” the Ridgeland Police Department said in a press release. “Special thanks to the City of Madison Police Department and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department for their prompt response to assist the Ridgeland Police Department with this incident as it was occurring.”