At least three people wounded in shooting at Durham, North Carolina, shopping mall

By Chris Boyette, Raja Razek and Steve Almasy, CNN

Three people were shot and three more injured during a shooting Friday at a packed shopping mall, police in Durham, North Carolina, said.

Off-duty Durham police officers were working Friday afternoon inside The Streets at Southpoint mall heard shots coming from within the mall, and called for backup, Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews said.

Responding officers found three people had been shot in an incident between two groups of people who know each other, Andrews said.

Among those shot was a 10-year-old child who was hit by a ricochet bullet, according to Andrews. The child was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, she said.

“Shootings in this city have got to stop. It’s got to stop,” the police chief said.

According to Andrews, most of those involved with the shooting fled after the incident but one person is being detained, one weapon was recovered, and police are interviewing witnesses.

Three people were injured as the mall, full of Black Friday shoppers, was evacuated after the incident, according to Andrews.

Police tweeted the mall will be closed as they investigate the shooting, and the chief said it will reopen Saturday.

“There is no further threat at the mall,” they said.

Before fleeing the scene, two eyewitnesses at the mall told CNN they heard multiple gunshots. Darian Harrington told CNN he was getting his shoes cleaned near the Victoria’s Secret at the mall.

“All of a sudden I saw people running, and I didn’t think anything of it, so I froze,” he said.

Then, he says he heard multiple gunshots very close by.

“I immediately headed for the first exit I could find,” he said. “I just start seeing people bolting out from every direction.”

Hadley Connell told CNN she, too, heard multiple shots being fired while she and her fiancé sat in the food court on the second floor.

“The gun sounds were followed by what sounded like a wave of rain on a tin roof as everyone started screaming, running, and pushing each other,” Connell said.

“We ran toward the mall bathrooms near the food court as people were stampeding, and a few security guards started to realize what was happening,” she said. “The security directed us down an employee hallway and stairwell as they tried to help the elderly and people with children get out of the building. We then ran to the other side of the mall complex parking lot, and we’re stuck in our parking space as everyone tries to evacuate.”

A Nordstrom employee told CNN affiliate WRAL he heard six gunshots and then a lot of people came running his way. The man said he was near the gunfire but couldn’t distinguish what direction it was coming from.

Aerial video from WRAL showed a parking lot almost complete full of vehicles of shoppers at the mall, which was seeing one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

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CNN’s Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report.