Police arrest teen after Iowa mall shooting that left 2 people hurt

By The Associated Press on July 23, 2024.

Police vehicles park outside a JCPenney as they respond to a reported shooting at NorthPark Mall in Davenport, Iowa, Monday, July 22, 2024. (Tom Loewy/Quad City Times via AP)

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Investigators arrested a teenager in connection with a shooting at an Iowa mall that left the teen and another person wounded and sent people running for safety, police said Tuesday.

Police arrested a 16-year-old on several weapons charges after learning he had been taken by a private car to a hospital after the shooting Monday afternoon inside NorthPark Mall in Davenport, a city of 100,000 people located along the Mississippi River.

The teen and another person shot at each other inside the mall, Davenport Police said in a news release. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The shooting prompted shoppers and workers to seek shelter inside store dressing rooms and elsewhere while others ran out of the mall.

Jason Signer and Isabelle Ortiz, both 18, told the Quad-City Times that they were sitting in the mall when they heard shouts. They said they saw people running and also ran.

“Then there was one gunshot,” Ortiz said. “And then two more. I was in shock, I think.”