Colorado Citadel Mall shooting leaves one man dead, three injured

One man was killed and three others were injured when gunfire erupted inside a Colorado shopping mall on Christmas Eve, according to police.

The Colorado Springs Police Department responded to a call of shots fired at the Citadel Mall shortly after 4:30 p.m. — 30 minutes before it was scheduled to close — after a fight broke out between two groups of people.

Two people, both of whom were shot at least once, were rushed to a local hospital in serious condition, police said.

A third victim was injured during the shooting but she was not hit by gunfire and sustained minor injuries.

The mall was “cleared and closed,” police shared, adding that “there is no ongoing threat to the community.”

The shooter has yet to be identified by law enforcement.

Multiple people were detained at the mall by police and investigators are “working to determine their involvement.” 

“We do anticipate that we’ll be on scene for a good part of the evening as we investigate and try to put together the pieces of what exactly happened here,” CSPD spokesman Ira Cronin told the Denver Gazette Sunday evening.

Police are also investigating if the shooter is among the victims.

The mall will reopen Tuesday, after the holiday break, police added.

One last-minute Christmas shopper was inside Burlington when the shots were “unleashed.”

“I heard like, four at first, and then I see everybody running from the play gym area,” a man identified as Travis told 11 News. “They were, like, telling everyone to get out and that’s when they just unleashed, it was, like, I don’t know how many gunshots there were after that.”

“You hear about it all the time, but you don’t ever think you’re going to be there when it happens,” Travis said.

Travis fled the mall through an emergency exit, but others sheltered in place in fear for their lives.

“I thought maybe there was some fighting or something going on,” said Heather Cunningham, who was shopping for new shoes for her son further inside the mall, told the outlet.

She said she saw people screaming and fleeing when an employee told her and others that “something’s going on” and yelled for people to “get in the back” of the store.

“The Vans employees were fantastic,” Cunningham told the outlet. “They got us in the back of the store right away, locked everything, put the bolts on, and we were in the back, huddled back there, being quiet.”

“It was so scary. I could still hear screaming and running outside of the Vans store,” the mother said.

The Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs is about 71 miles south of Denver.

With Post wires

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