A man died in a shooting Saturday at a shopping mall in central Florida in which the victim was apparently “targeted” for the attack, police said.
Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken told reporters Saturday evening that the man was killed after he was shot multiple times in a common area at Paddock Mall in Ocala, located about 80 miles northwest of Orlando. A woman was shot in the leg, police said. The suspect fled the scene and left behind the firearm, Balken said.
Police responded to the mall around 3:40 p.m. after calls of multiple shots being fire at the mall. “Officers immediately made entry into the mall (and) ultimately discovered that this was not what we would consider an active shooter,” Balken told reporters. Several other mall patrons also suffered injuries during the shooting.
