At least seven children were injured Saturday after a shooting outside Circle Centre Mall in Indiana, prompting a swift response from the authorities, local media WTHR reported.
According to officials, the children were between 12 and 17 of age. They also added that when they arrived at the scene they found six juveniles with gunshot wounds after 11pm.
The report said that one person was in a critical condition earlier while all others were stable, adding that the seventh victim came later to the local hospital with the gunshot injuries.
Police have not yet made any arrests while believing that there may be multiple firearms involved in the shooting.
The statement read that it closed at 7pm, and there is no indication that those involved in the shooting had visited the mall.
Tanya Terry, deputy chief of operations for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police told the media: “Once again, we have a situation where young people are resolving conflict with firearms, and it has to stop.”
Terry added: Officers have noticed a pattern of young people leaving the mall after it closes at 7pm and circulating in the nearby downtown area for hours.
She noted that if parents don’t know where their 12-year-old is at 11:30pm before Easter, that should “be a priority.”
“I think everybody sees the messages in the evening at 10 o’clock, ‘Parents, do you know where your children are?'” Terry said, referring to an old public service text.
This is the third shooting in three weekends in Indianapolis, according to WTHR.
