Twelve injured, 10 by gunfire, in shooting at South Carolina shopping mall

(Reuters) -Twelve folks had been injured, 10 of them by gunfire, in a taking pictures that erupted on Saturday inside a shopping center in Columbia, South Carolina, and three folks had been taken into custody, police stated.

Columbia Police Chief William Holbrook stated the taking pictures on the Columbiana Centre mall was not believed to have been a random act of violence however somewhat stemmed from “some form of battle” amongst a gaggle of armed people who knew one another.

Nevertheless, particulars surrounding the taking pictures remained sketchy, he stated. Native media shops reported a heavy presence of police and emergency personnel on the mall about 10 miles north of downtown Columbia, the state capital.

Nobody was killed within the incident, which unfolded at about 2 p.m. native time. However 10 folks had been struck by gunfire, and eight of them had been transported to space hospitals. Of these, two had been listed in important however secure situation and 6 in secure situation, Holbrook informed a information briefing hours later.

The gunshot victims ranged in age from 73 to fifteen, he stated. Two different folks had been injured in a “stampede” of bystanders operating for security.

A minimum of three folks had been discovered to have been carrying firearms contained in the mall, and no less than one among them really fired a weapon, Holbrook stated. Three people had been detained in reference to the taking pictures, he stated.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Modifying by Cynthia Osterman)