Gunfire inside a Spirit Halloween store at the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield, California, on Friday night killed one person and injured six others, police said, in a shooting that struck last-minute Halloween shoppers on the eve of the holiday.
The shooting matters because it turned a seasonal store crowded with families preparing for Halloween into a crime scene hours before children were due back at the same mall for trick-or-treating, and because the person responsible remained at large into Saturday morning.
Fairfield officers responded to the mall at about 8:30 p.m. local time on Friday, October 30, after reports of gunfire inside the store, the Fairfield Police Department said. Seven people were struck by gunfire in total, and one person was killed and six others were injured, according to police.
One victim died at the scene, while the six wounded were taken to hospitals, Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall told reporters late on Friday. At least three of the injured were in critical condition, he said, and the identities and ages of the victims were not released.
“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 Fairfield Police Department said in a Facebook post early on Saturday.
As of Saturday morning, no one had been arrested and police had not released a description of a suspect, Chief Marshall said. He told reporters late on Friday that it was not yet clear whether there was a single shooter or more than one, and detectives were interviewing witnesses and reviewing mall surveillance footage.
The FBI’s Sacramento office said it was aware of the shooting at a business on Gateway Boulevard in Fairfield and was deploying its Evidence Response Team to assist Fairfield police. Officers from Suisun City provided mutual aid, and the California Highway Patrol helped with traffic control and clearing buildings at the scene, according to local reports.
David Bernal told NBC affiliate KCRA that his wife was inside the Spirit Halloween store when the shooting began and escaped with several other people through an emergency exit. He said she heard five loud bangs and ran out through an exit on the other side of the mall, adding that she was at home and still in shock.
Solano Town Center, at 1350 Travis Boulevard in Fairfield, about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco, has more than 130 shops and restaurants, according to its website. The seasonal Spirit Halloween store took over space once occupied by Best Buy, and the mall had been scheduled to host a “Mall-O-Ween” trick-or-treating event for children on Saturday evening.
Investigators said the shooting was unrelated to a separate fatal incident earlier on Friday at a Spirit Halloween store in Madison Heights, Michigan. Police have not announced a motive for the Fairfield shooting, and have not said how many shots were fired.
Anyone with information, photos or video that could help investigators is asked to contact the Fairfield Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit at 707-428-7600 or by email at 1030mall@fairfield.ca.gov. Police said the mall site would remain an active crime scene while detectives continue interviews and evidence collection, with updates shared on the department’s Facebook, Instagram and Nixle pages.
