Multiple people were killed and one person was in custody after a shooter went on a rampage Saturday at a shopping mall, police in the Texas border town of El Paso said. Police responded in the early afternoon to an active shooter scene at the Cielo Vista Mall, which is near Interstate 10 on east side of the city, and were advising people to stay away from the area.
Sgt. Enrique Carrillo, a police spokesman, said a suspect was in custody and there was no longer danger to the public.
One law enforcement source told CBS News that preliminary information is that there were two male shooters with a AK 47-style weapon. Earlier, El Paso police tweeted that they had received reports of “multiple shooters.”
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The ATF and FBI have responded to the scene.
Witness Ray Holgin told CBS News that he was about to go into the Walmart when he heard at least 10 gunshots. He said he thought he saw at least two people with guns. Holgin told CBS News that he saw at least one person, an elderly lady, fall to the ground, but he’s not sure if she was shot.
Details of the shooting were still emerging but many people took to social media to report information and post video.
Walmart released a statement, saying it was working with law enforcement and “praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to the shooting on social media.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, said on Twitter she was “heartbroken” by the incident and was monitoring the situation.
Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke appeared a bit shaken as he appeared at a candidate forum in Las Vegas on Saturday shortly after news of the shooting in his hometown was reported.
O’Rourke said he had called his wife before taking the stage and said the shooting shatters “any illusion that we have that progress is inevitable” on tackling gun violence.
The Democrat said he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield and do not bring it into our communities.”
“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we consign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people are year will lose their lives to gun violence and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
