A 17-year-old has been charged as an adult after police say he opened fire inside a Wheaton, Maryland, mall Friday evening, wounding a 13-year-old boy near a children’s play area and sending shoppers scrambling for safety.
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Diego Rafael Turcios Avalos, of Silver Spring, was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and multiple firearm charges, Montgomery County police said.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. at Westfield Wheaton Mall at 11160 Veirs Mill Road as shoppers and children filled the shopping center. Emergency dispatchers got over 23 calls about a gunman who was firing at people on the mall’s second floor.
The 13-year-old was shot in the ankle. He was treated at the scene before being taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The shooting happened near a Cinnabon and a children’s play area. Kids were playing there when the shots rang out, police said.
They said mall surveillance video showed a group of teenagers walking past Turcios Avalos, who was sitting at a table near the Cinnabon. Authorities said he then stood up, pulled out a handgun and fired at the group before running through the mall.
An armed security officer confronted Turcios Avalos outside Dick’s Sporting Goods and ordered him to the ground, according to investigators. The officer held him there until Montgomery County police arrived. Officers recovered a 9mm handgun.
Turcios Avalos is being held at Montgomery County Detention Center’s Central Processing Unit in Rockville, awaiting a bond hearing.
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