Wisconsin police arrest 15-year-old boy for Mayfair Mall shooting, say 'bullets started flying' during altercation

A 15-year-old Milwaukee boy who allegedly opened fire at a suburban Wisconsin shopping mall on Friday, sending eight people to the hospital, has been arrested, police said Sunday.

Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber said the suspect was arrested Saturday night, adding that the shooting was the result of an altercation between two groups of people at Mayfair Mall.

"We do know there was some sort of altercation, and that's when the bullets started flying," Weber said during a Sunday press conference.

While police on Friday said witnesses described the shooter as a white man in his 20s or 30s, Weber said the suspect is an Hispanic teenager. A firearm was recovered during the arrest, he said.

"There were several members of those groups that were injured during this altercation," Wauwatosa Police public information officer Abby Pavlik said of the two groups involved in the incident.

Four bystanders also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

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The alleged shooter exited the mall as other patrons were running out, according to Wauwatosa police, citing video surveillance.

Police said "several" other arrests have been made related to the shooting.

The mall was closed Saturday but reopened at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Witnesses inside the mall Friday reported hearing multiple gunshots about 3 p.m. that sent people fleeing for the exits or to other locations where they could safely shelter in place. Reporters at the scene and news helicopters captured video of at least four people being loaded into ambulances in the parking lot.

More than 40 police vehicles and 100 officers and agents from local and federal law enforcement — some in tactical gear and holding shields — could be seen outside the mall Friday evening.

Gloria Hall said she was on the second floor of Mayfair mall with her niece when she heard a “pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.”

“I’m like, that sounds like gunfire,” Hall said.

“We look up, we see people running, little kids crying, people pushing their strollers,” she said. “We were all scared out of our minds.”

Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa has more than 150 stores and kiosks on two main levels. The mall, originally built in the 1950s, has more than 1 million square feet of retail space, anchored by Macy's.

Evan Casey can be reached at evan.casey@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecaseymedia.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mayfair Mall shooting: Wisconsin police arrest 15-year-old boy