1 shot, 7 detained following fight at Southlake Mall, police say

MORROW, Ga. — Morrow police are investigating a shooting at Southlake Mall in Clayton County.

Officers were called to the mall around 3 p.m. Thursday. Channel 2′s Richard Elliot went to the scene shortly after shots rang out.

Morrow police taped off the parking lot outside Macy’s to investigate a shooting that wounded one man and scared scores of shoppers like Jada Smith.

“Scared. I was scared trying to get cover. You don’t know where the bullets are coming from,” Smith said.

Police say it started as a fight inside the mall between two groups of people, but then moved outside to the parking lot where they say the groups exchanged some 25 gun shots.

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“There was one person hit. A 28-year-old male was hit in the inner right thigh with non-life-threatening injuries, transported to the hospital,” said Det. Sgt. Eli Skelton with the Morrow Police Department.

Police say they got to the mall fast enough to detain seven different people.

Skelton told Elliot that when they hear a call like this one they rush to get there as quickly as possible.

“Me, personally, what runs through my mind is we have to get there, we have to figure out who the bad guy is, why they’re doing what they’re doing and stop it,” Skelton said.

Police also said the shooting rattled so many shoppers here, EMTs had to treat three people for anxiety related problems.

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