After shot-fired incident, Millcreek Mall owners say that act of violence isn't part of a pattern

Unfortunate, but rare.

That's how the management of the Millcreek Mall describes a fistfight among six teenagers Sunday afternoon that led to a weapon being discharged inside the mall.

James E. Troop III has been arraigned on felony counts of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and on misdemeanor counts including recklessly endangering and corruption of minors.

More:Erie 18-year-old charged with assaulting teen, wrestling for gun when shot fired in Millcreek Mall

Wrestling over a gun

Millcreek Township police accuse Troop, 18, of beating up a teenager before getting into a fight with another person and wrestling over a gun when the weapon fired inside the mall. No one was injured when the weapon was fired.

Millcreek police said Thursday that they have now identified all six suspects in the incident and that all face criminal charges.

Joe Bell, a spokesman for the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., which owns the mall, acknowledged that it's natural for an incident such as this one to raise public concern.

"It's a familiar pattern," he said. "We hear it a lot when there is an act of violence. There is a knee-jerk reaction. There is an outcry from ordinary people that something must be done."

Bell, whose company is the nation's largest private shopping development and management company, said he understands the reactionary call to do something.

But he also stressed that the incident does not suggest a pattern of violent behavior at the Millcreek Mall complex, which has more than 150 tenants.

More charges:Millcreek police ID, charge teens in fight where a shot was fired inside Millcreek Mall

More:Millcreek Mall drops COVID shutdown-related lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf

"It is incredibly unfortunate that a group of young people decided to meet at the mall for a fistfight," Bell wrote in an email. "In the process of doing so, one of them brought, most likely illegally, a concealed firearm with him. During the brief fight, there was a struggle for the gun and it discharged one shot, hitting no one."

Bell continued: "Millcreek Mall Security, along with Millcreek and state police responded rapidly. We will cooperate to make sure everyone involved in this fight are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Our Legal Department will also permanently ban them from the property."

Incident was 'pretty rare'

How common are incidents of violence on the mall property?

"They're pretty rare," Bell said, "In all of 2021, we recorded no — as in zero — acts of violence on the property. Every year, there are a handful of instances of disorderly conduct but usually nothing that rises to the level of a violent act against a person."

The number of annual visitors and visits to the Millcreek Mall Complex, which includes numerous stores and restaurants that aren't part of the main mall, underline the relative safety, he said.

Over the past 12 months, the mall complex had more than 1.1 million unique visitors and 5.9 million individual visits, more than Presque Isle State Park.

Although he describes the rate of violent incidents as incredibly low, Bell said no one can promise absolute safety.

"We are pretty realistic in the way we think about it," he said. "If you (think of) the number of businesses, houses of worship, entertainment facilities and bars, it takes nothing for someone to walk into any of those places."

While the rate of violent incidents is statistically negligible, Bell said, "You will never reduce the risk to absolutely zero. We are happy we don't get too much of that at the Millcreek Mall. And we do our best to make sure we try to weed out those folks (who have caused problems)."

Jim Martin can be reached at jmartin@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Millcreek Mall shooting was first violent act in more than a year