Imagine being in a mall food court at 6 p.m. on a Friday night — the crowds, the families with children — when gunshots ring out.
That was the terrifying reality for visitors and staff members at the Wheaton Mall in Montgomery County, Maryland, on the last Friday in July.
A 17-year-old, identified by police as Silver Spring resident Diego Rafael Turcios Avalos, has since been charged as an adult for the shooting.
According to police, mall surveillance video shows a group of teenagers that walked past the 17-year-old while he was sitting at a table on the second floor, near the Cinnabon.
The teen then stood up, pulled out a gun and began shooting at the group.
The shooting also took place near a children’s play area, where children were actively playing at the time, police said.
A 13-year-old was struck in the ankle, police said, and needed a tourniquet. The 13-year-old was taken to the hospital and is stable.
After the shooting, police said, Tucios Avalos ran into the Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Police said that an armed security officer at the Dick’s stopped the 17-year-old when he saw the gun. The guard held the teenager in custody until police arrived.
Hours later, crime scene tape cordoned off the stairways leading to that emptied-out food court. Stray items dropped by mall patrons could be seen where they were abandoned in the panic, laying on the tiled mall floor.
“This is something that we hate to see, especially with a youth or anyone,” said David Smith, a Montgomery County Police commander. “Gun violence is something that we have a high focus on, on the recovery of illegal firearms. And hopefully, preventing these circumstances, these disputes, from turning into something like this.”
Police recovered a gun from the scene and are investigating.
Turcios Avalos faces charges of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a violent felony, carrying a loaded handgun on his person and possession of a firearm by a minor, police said.
