HANOVER, Md. — A teenager wanted in connection to a shooting at Arundel Mills Mall was arrested on Tuesday.
It was a typical Saturday night at Arundel Mills Mall. Frantic shopping and people getting ready for Saturday night celebrations, but that was all about to change.
Shots were fired outside the mall around 7:45 p.m. by Modell’s and the Books-a-Million stores. Police heard the gun shots and ran to the scene as everyone was running away. But when police got to where the shooting was, both the gunman and the victim were gone.
"About a half hour later we received a call from an area hospital that a man walked in suffering from a gun shot wound. That man told detectives that he was shot in that entrance of Arundel Mills Mall," explained Sergeant Jackie Davis, a spokeswoman at the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
After talking with the victim, who is listed in stable condition, and witnesses, police learned two groups of people started arguing inside the mall. That’s when police say 16-year-old Jamari Hammond pulled out a pistol and started shooting.
"The two did not know each other beforehand. This is not something that carried over and just culminated at the mall, it originated at the mall were they met and started arguing and ended in gun shots," said Sgt. Davis.
Hammond, who lives in Severn, was arrested on Tuesday but details are still limited.
"We still have a large police presence there, as always, you are safe to go there. We want to squelch those fears as much as we can," said Sgt. Davis.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Western District at 410-222-6155, or the TipLine 410-222-4700.
