“We believe that one of those three people shot was a targeted individual,” said Monroeville Police Chief Doug Cole of the incident at the Monroeville Mall outside Pittsburgh.
The other two victims were described as bystanders and the suspect was still at large.
Police from several departments as well as FBI agents responded to the shootings, evacuating the mall where shoppers hid in stores after shots were fired.
Andy Sherman, head of the Allegheny County Detective Division, said surveillance videos could help identify the gunman.
The victims were taken to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, about 12 miles (20 km) east of Pittsburgh, where two were in critical condition and one was in fair condition, according to Dan Laurent, a hospital spokesman.
Police ordered the hospital’s emergency department locked down until the gunman was apprehended, said Jesse Miller, another spokesman for the medical facility.
The mall was the scene of a massive, hours-long brawl in December involving hundreds of teenagers that forced the mall to close early. (Reuters)
