This afternoon Danbury Police Chief Ridenhour provided an update regarding last night's shooting incident at the Danbury Fair Mall.
It was about 7 pm last night when Danbury Police dispatch received a report of shots fired at the Danbury Fair Mall near Macy’s. Police say that upon arrival officers found a sixteen-year-old female suffering from a gunshot wound to her upper chest area. She was alert and conscious. The victim was taken by ambulance to Danbury Hospital.
The mall was immediately placed on lockdown.
Ridenhour said, "Not knowing how many suspects are involved or if they are still in the building, our officers along with officers from other area agencies began a coordinated search of the building while other officers and mall security began reviewing surveillance video. A little into an hour into this effort, it was determined that the suspects had left the building."
Ridenhour confirmed today that the victim was a 15-year-old female, not a 16-year-old as previously reported. Late last night, she was transferred from Danbury Hospital to Connecticut Children's Hospital in Hartford for treatment of her gunshot wound. According to Ridenhour, she is in stable condition. Her identity is still being withheld at this time due to the ongoing investigation.
According to Ridenhour, surveillance video shows there were at least eight people involved in some sort of altercation with another group. One person had a handgun and fired a single shot which struck the female. It was determined that she was part of the group involved in the altercation but it is still unclear if she was the intended target of the shooting.
Detectives confirmed that the shooter is a dark-skinned male, possibly in his early teens, thin build with shoulder-length dreadlocks. "We are very confident that he will be identified soon," said Ridenhour who added, "However, we encourage him to turn himself in as soon as possible."
Ridenhour said that he believes this is an isolated incident and there is no ongoing risk to the public at this time.
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