Gunman opens fire inside shopping mall

KINGSTON, N.Y. – A lone gunman opened fire with an assault rifle Sunday inside a crowded mall in upstate New York, seriously wounding one person before running out of ammunition and being subdued by employees, authorities said.

The gunman began shooting inside the Hudson Valley Mall shortly after 3 p.m. in Kingston, nearly 90 miles north of New York City.

The 24-year-old gunman went into a Best Buy store and started firing. When he ran out of ammunition, he was captured by mall employees, police said.

Police did not identify the suspect.

State police Capt. Wayne Olson said the shooter fired a “significant number of rounds.”

Officials said the weapon was an AK-47.

An Army recruiter was shot in the leg but was not the target of the attack, said a National Guard spokesman. The recruiter was evacuated by helicopter to an Albany hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

The 20-year-old recruiter might lose his leg, Olson said.

A second victim, a 56-year-old man, suffered minor gunshot wounds to his left arm, thigh and leg. Two other people had bullet holes in their pant legs.

“We consider it fortunate that more people were not struck,” Olson said. “Sunday afternoon in a crowded mall, it really has all the potential in the world to be a disaster.”

The mall was evacuated after the shooting, but an unknown number of workers remained inside after police surrounded the building.

“Everyone was running and screaming. Then I heard the shots,” witness Heather Craig told Fox News. “People were running over people. Other people were just standing there dumbfounded.”

The suspect, who was from the nearby Saugerties area, was expected to be arraigned Sunday night or today on charges of assault and reckless endangerment.