EL PASO, Texas — Multiple people were killed Saturday in a shooting at a shopping center in El Paso, Texas, according to local officials.
El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and police Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said there were multiple fatalities.
Authorities do not believe there is an ongoing threat, Carrillo told reporters.
One suspect is in custody, according to Sgt. Robert Gomez.
At least 22 people were injured, spokesmen from two hospitals told CNN.
Eleven victims were transported to the Del Sol Medical Center, hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero said. Another 11 victims were taken to the University Medical Center of El Paso, according to spokesman Ryan Mielke.
Police began receiving reports of an active shooter around 10 a.m. (noon ET), Gomez said in a brief news conference at the scene. Authorities were initially given multiple possible locations for the shooting, Gomez said, at both a Walmart and the Cielo Vista Mall next door.
They also received reports of an incident at a second mall, several miles away from the Cielo Vista mall, but they confirmed that scene was safe.
Multiple agencies, including the FBI and the local sheriff’s department, have responded to the scene to assist El Paso authorities.
Armed Policemen gather next to an FBI armoured vehicle next to the Cielo Vista Mall as an active shooter situation is going inside the Mall in El Paso on August 03, 2019. – Police said there may be more than one suspect involved in an active shooter situation Saturday in El Paso, Texas. City police said on Twitter they had received “multi reports of multipe shooters.” There was no immediate word on casualties. (Photo by Joel Angel JUAREZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)
‘You don’t think it could happen here’
At least three businesses were on lockdown in the area, about three miles south of El Paso International Airport.
Three Walmart employees took refuge at a nearby Landry’s Seafood house, restaurant manager Oscar Collazo told CNN. The women appeared “shook up” but not injured.
Landry’s had already gone on lockdown, he said, but opened its doors when the employees ran there.
“We never thought it would be so close to us this time,” Collazo said. “You see on the news all the time, but you don’t think it could happen here until it does.”
The nearby Hooters and Red Lobster were also on lockdown. Employees at those restaurants told CNN they were safe and saw a lot of police, helicopters and people running around outside.
In a shaky Snapchat video aired by CNN, a woman holding the camera frantically runs with a small group of girls or women through a Cielo Vista mall department store and into a parking lot.
As the group hurries past racks of clothes and cases of merchandise, voices off camera shout, “Hands up!”
Once in the parking lot, one member of the group asks, “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” the woman holding the camera responds. “I don’t know.”
White House pledges ‘total support’
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House is monitoring the situation, Deputy Press Secretary Steven Groves said in a statement.
“Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas,” the President tweeted Saturday afternoon. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement. Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!”
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who once represented the area in Congress, addressed the shooting while at a speaking event in Las Vegas.
“We know there is a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in El Paso right now,” he said. “I am incredibly said and it is very hard to think about this.”
“But I’ll tell you, El Paso is the strongest place in the world,” he added. “This community is going to come together.”
O’Rourke said he would be cutting short his trip to Las Vegas to return to El Paso.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweetedthat the state Department of Public Safety is assisting local law enforcement.
The scene is unfolding in the same week two employees were fatally shot at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.
