A tragic mall shooting in Maryland offers even more proof that firearms don’t solve problems– they make them even worse.
The crowded food court of the Westfield Annapolis mall turned into a scene of panic last night as a gunfight broke out and wounded three people – including an off-duty Secret Service agent who tried to stop the shooting.
The gunbattle erupted in an area of the upscale mall frequented by teenagers and spurred panic among hundreds of patrons, who fled screaming to escape what several witnesses said were at least 10 gunshots.
Anne Arundel County police said a group of youths surrounded a young man about 7:15 p.m. and began hitting him just inside the food court entrance.
The Secret Service agent, who had come upon the scene while shopping with his family, tried to break up the fight, police said. After one youth began shooting, the agent pulled out his weapon and “engaged in fire” with the shooter, police said.
Two youths and the Secret Service agent were shot, said Officer Sara Schriver, an Anne Arundel County Police Department spokeswoman.
Now, we have no issue with the Secret Service agent attempting to stop the fight. He did the right thing by doing that, although we would only hope he would have had more help (the article makes it sound as though he jumped into a crowd of fighting teens by himself).
But he did the wrong thing in pulling a firearm, and we’re sure many mistakes were made that led to the youths having firearms of their own. If there were no firearms involved, this would have been a fight, broken up and the guilty parties detained. Instead, because guns were involved, three people were wounded, and any number of bystanders could have been shot or killed.
And what’s even scarier is that community members should have seen this violence coming. There were a series of fights among the youth earlier in the day– none of them should have been in contact with each other, much less armed.
Tanjala Brown said violence at her son’s high school is “getting out of hand” and that “it needs to stop.”
She said that her son was jumped in September and police have never identified who attacked him. But she said he was not in school Friday, when seven students were arrested after two fights.
It was unclear last night if the shooting had anything to do with violence at the high school or if Brown was the target of last night’s initial assault.
The triple shooting occurred as the mall prepares to enter the busy holiday shopping season.
Landon Lewnes, a 19-year-old employee at Day By Day Calendar Co., said one shot rang out and about seven to nine more followed in rapid succession.
“The shots were very loud,” Lewnes said. “I ducked behind the counter after the first shot.”
Shoppers sprinted from the food court in all directions through the mall, seeking refuge in other stores and hiding in bathrooms, witnesses said. A Borders Books & Music employee said it was like “a scene out of Columbine.”
Ray Leone, a Borders manager, said nearly 50 people ran frantically through his store, out an exit and kept running to a restaurant across the parking lot.
Other managers of stores, who declined to give their names, said the food court emptied within seconds of the shots. Only food trays, trash and the wounded remained on the floor by the time police and security arrived.
Our gun culture is arming both sides, and turning high school drama into real-life violence. These kids should be disciplined and dealt with, not armed and dangerous. Because the NRA has played so loosely with our gun laws, even kids can get firearms– and then use them, tragically, to pick gunfights in malls.
