Shopping mall shootings: Young boy killed & 3 others wounded in Alabama, girl hurt in Massachusetts

HOOVER, Alabama — A shooting at an Alabama shopping mall Friday afternoon left an 8-year-old boy dead and three other people wounded.

Hoover police said that a girl and two adults were hospitalized after the shooting inside the Riverchase Galleria.

Multiple shots were reported near the food court inside the mall about 3:15 p.m., but police said they were not immediately sure what led to the shooting.

Authorities also did not say whether anyone had been arrested.

The mall in suburban Birmingham was the site of a 2018 police shooting where an officer fatally shot a Black man with a gun after mistaking him for the gunman in an earlier shooting at the mall.

BRAINTREE, Massachusettes — A shopping mall just south of Boston was placed into lockdown Friday afternoon as police responded to reports of an "active shooter."

Braintree police said a 15-year-old girl was wounded at South Shore Plaza, a popular mall. Two male suspects were taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

ABC affiliate WCVB-TV said witnesses reported hearing up to half a dozen gunshots inside the mall around 4:30 p.m.

The girl who was shot was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Braintree is located about 25 minutes south of downtown Boston.