Seven Shot, One Killed Inside a California Mall’s Spirit Halloween Store the Night Before Halloween
Key Takeaways
- Seven people were shot Friday night inside the Spirit Halloween store at the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield, California.
- One of the seven victims has died, and at least three of the six survivors were taken to hospitals in critical condition.
- Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall said officers were still searching for a suspect late Friday night.
- A witness named David Bernal said his wife was near the store's wig section when she heard shots and fled through an emergency exit.
- The Solano Town Center was scheduled to host a Mall-O-Ween trick-or-treating event for children the following evening.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
FAIRFIELD, CA — Seven people were shot Friday night inside the Spirit Halloween store at the Solano Town Center mall, and one of them has died, according to the Fairfield Police Department. Police have not identified a suspect.
Officers responded to the shooting at 8:30 p.m. Police said the six surviving victims were all taken to local hospitals, at least three of them in critical condition. Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall told reporters late Friday that officers were still searching for a suspect, as reported by CNN. The mall sits about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Police have not released the identities of any of the victims. “This is still a very active crime scene. Detectives are speaking with witnesses and diligently working to identify the suspect responsible for this horrific shooting,” the department said.
David Bernal told CNN affiliate KCRA that his wife was near the store’s wig section when the shots rang out. She ran out an emergency exit.
“She said she heard five big bangs … it was loud,” Bernal said. “She’s at home right now and still in shock.”
This is why I carry. Nobody walks into a costume store on a Friday night, the day before Halloween, expecting gunfire. That is the point. Violence like this does not announce itself, and it does not wait for a place where people are ready for it.
Fairfield officers responded, and detectives are working the case. But police respond to a shooting that has already started. In the seconds after the first shots, the people inside that store had only what they walked in with: their awareness, their reaction, and whatever plan they had. Bernal’s wife heard the shots and ran for an exit. That is mindset, and it has to be in place before the moment arrives.
A firearm is one part of that plan, not the whole of it. A gun does nothing for someone who has never trained with it or never noticed where the exits are. I carry because the only response guaranteed to be there in the first seconds of an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm is my own. I train so that response is the right one, whether that means getting out, getting low, or fighting back.
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Solano Town Center is scheduled to host “Mall-O-Ween!” Saturday evening, including mall-wide trick-or-treating for children, according to CNN.
No arrest has been announced. Police are asking anyone with information to call the Fairfield Police Department at 707-428-7600 or email [email protected].
Read the original story: Seven Shot, One Killed Inside a California Mall’s Spirit Halloween Store the Night Before Halloween