Upon hearing gunfire, an off-duty police officer working as a security guard there said he was basically forced to shoot the suspect because he leveled a gun at him. Officials said two of the people involved in the fight, aside from the officer, were armed.
Officials said those involved in the fight were “a group of subjects who have a history of feuding.”
Thursday’s gunfire frightened last-minute holiday shoppers at the mall, prompting them to run for cover until police evacuated the complex.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the suspects fired at police.
The Charlotte Observer reported late Thursday that one person suffered an asthma attack in the mall and a pregnant woman went into labor.
Witnesses said the shooting began in a shoe store on the lower level of the shopping center.
Neither the dead suspect nor the officer who shot him were immediately identified.
