We start at 6:00 with this
developing story out of Concord.
An officer involved shooting,
causing a lockdown at Concord Mills Mall.
Officers just gave us an update about
this chase that turned into a shootout.
They say we have team coverage
from Concord on this story today,
and so we're going to check
in first with Chloe Leshner at
the mall where police gave us a
rundown of what they say happened.
So Chloe, take it away.
What have you learned from this briefing?
Yeah, hey, Vanessa.
This whole officer involved shooting all
started when three suspects stole a credit
card from somebody inside of the mall.
One of those suspects was shot by police
and is now at Atrium in critical condition.
The other two suspects are in custody.
And the two officers who fired their weapons,
they were not hurt in all of this.
Of course, the FBI is now investigating this,
which is standard procedure.
This happened at the end of the lunch
hour when someone called 911 again
to report that credit card stolen.
By three men in the mall,
they were able to give a description
of those men to police,
who quickly found them outside of the mall.
Police say that is when the
foot chase started.
The suspects led them back inside of
the mall and ended up in a construction
area for a new store where one of
those suspects pulled out a handgun.
Police say the two officers gave
verbal commands for the suspect to
drop the gun before he fired at them,
the bullet landing right at their feet.
They returned gunfire, hitting the suspect.
They were able to render aid before medics.
Arrived and the other two suspects
were arrested.
Now,
there have been other dangerous
crimes here at this mall before.
Police say, though,
that people should still feel safe.
So the Concord Police Department
subscribes to a community policing
philosophy and part of that is have
visibility and and so this this,
this area has 24 officers assigned
to this district in addition to 4
sergeants and the captain's crime
statistics over the last several
years and particularly this year,
so that there's once again
a decrease in crime,
which is evidence that it's safe.
Now one of the officers involved has been
with the department about two years,
the other just a few months police
asking anybody who has any video of the
shooting inside of them all to send
that to the SB. I live in Concord,
Chloe Leshner WCNC, Charlotte.
Chloe, for that, let's check in now with
our Jane Monreal who has been talking
with shoppers who were inside or around
the mall when all of this happened.
Jane, what have you been hearing?
So much to take in here Friday, Fred, right.
So in front of the Concord Mills Mall,
I want to show you currently what's
left of the scene, a lot of that scene
here in front of ****** Sporting Goods,
but they do have the Concord Command Center
as well as just a couple of Concord PD units
left right in front of ****** Sporting Goods.
But at that presser,
Todd McGee from Concord PD said that again,
you know, in addition to safety concerns,
he understands that people
may have been concerned,
may have questions about.
What happened?
Yeah, we did talk to a couple who told
us they did hear shots fired and they
told us what it sounded like to them.
They heard one shot,
they thought it was a pallet
knocking over something you would
hear in the mall and then out of
nowhere it was four to five shots.
Rapidly, people were
running inside the stores.
And shortly following the
officer involved shooting call,
there was a major response
from several local agencies,
including state troopers and Concord
Fire Department to this scene.
Right now as we come back live,
the yellow crime tape is still set up
left of the storefront and traffic was
definitely snarled for most of the afternoon.
That has now been reopened
here in Concord Mills Blvd.
In front of the mall.
We did talk to some employees.
Some of these perimeter
restaurants have been open.
But it took workers about an
hour just to get to work again.
Open for business tonight,
live in front of Concord Mills mall.
Jane Monreal,
WCNC, Charlotte.
Certainly a scary situation.
We appreciate those updates Jane,
and be sure folks at home,
we'll continue to follow this
story this evening from Concord.
You can check out those updates
coming in both on our air,
but also on social media,
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