North Star Mall patrons scrambled for safety Sunday afternoon as the sound of gunfire sparked panic.
A man in his early 40s was killed when two people walked into a barbershop and opened fire, according to the San Antonio Police Department. Officers described the shooting as an isolated incident. No other injuries were reported, and no arrests had been made, police said.
“Our victim was getting a haircut on a Sunday at the mall and two suspects come in and shoot him in cold blood in the middle of the day, so at this time we have reason to believe this was a targeted situation,” said Nick Soliz, public information officer for SAPD.
Video on social media showed terrified mall patrons in the food court yelling and running for cover.
Soliz said North Star Mall would be closed for the remainder of the day. There was no description of the assailants, but SAPD said it was reviewing surveillance footage. Police did not believe the shooting was related to any recent shooting and were unsure if it was gang-related.
Richard Fuentes said he was eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory with his 16-year-old daughter Olivia when he heard gunfire. Fuentes said he jumped up and ran out of the restaurant, helping his daughter climb over a pony wall to get away.
Bota Zhunussov and her family of four were enjoying their second day in the United States when the sound of gunshots sent everyone around her into a panic.
“Everybody started running and screaming. We ran. We left everything there,” she said.
Zhunussov, who was visiting from Kazakhstan for an industrial safety conference, hid in a bathroom along with her husband, their 9-year-old son and their 7-year-old daughter until they were evacuated by police.
“People were crying inside of the bathroom, as well. Lots of screaming and crying. Everybody was hiding there,” she said.
“I brought my family with me just to show them U.S.A. First time in U.S.A. Second day in U.S.A.,” Zhunussov said, trailing off.
Hayley Nerf, an assistant manager at the Steve Madden store near the north mall entrance by Kona Grill, said about 15-20 customers were in the store when they saw people running and heard “extremely scared screams” coming from inside the mall.
People were scared and confused, she said, and the store employees ushered everyone out of the mall through the store’s back door to the parking lot.
“Immediately I just ran everybody out the back,” Nerf said. “We ran them straight out our back door and out through the back entrance, and I held the door open and was yelling at people to come out.”
Co-worker Alejandra Tovar said she also reacted out of instinct. “Once I saw people were running, my instinct reaction was just to run,” she said, “and then [to tell] the customers, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’”
Waiting for a taxi outside JCPenney, Askhat Zhunussov, who doesn’t speak English, said something to his wife.
Translating for her husband, Bota Zhunussov asked a reporter, “How often it happens? Is this normal or it just happened?”
Leigh Munsil contributed to this report.
