One man was killed and a woman was wounded in a shooting at a mall in the Central Florida city of Ocala Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The shooting occurred in a “common area” of the Paddock Mall at about 3:40 p.m. Eastern time, Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken said in a news briefing Saturday evening.
The shooting left one man dead and a female with a gunshot wound to the leg, Balken said. The name of the deceased victim was not immediately provided.
Officers initially responded to reports of what they thought was an active shooter situation, but later determined that it was “a targeted act of violence,” Balken said, adding that the man who was killed was believed to be the target of the shooting.
The suspect — described as a Black male dressed in a black hoodie, black pants and a black mask partially covering his face — fled and remains at large. The firearm used in the shooting has since been recovered, Balken said.
The mall has been evacuated and will likely remain on lockdown for at least another 12 hours, Balken said. Several local agencies were assisting in the investigation, the police chief added.
Ocala is located about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.
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