4-year-old still hospitalized, 17-year-old faces felony charges in Glendale Tanger Outlet shooting

GLENDALE, AZ — Glendale police are investigating a shooting at a shopping complex that left four people injured, including a four-year-old and two teenagers Wednesday afternoon.

As of March 26, the 4-year-old boy remains in the hospital, but the other three who were injured have been released from the hospital.

The 17-year-old, identified as the primary aggressor in the shooting, has been taken into custody by police and is being charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of felony endangerment, two counts of misconduct involving weapons — one count for age, one count for prior felony conviction — and criminal damage.

The 17-year-old has been transferred into the adult system and is being held on a $250,000 cash only bond, according to police.

The identity of the 17-year-old has not been released due to Phoenix's policies on juvenile information.

On Thursday afternoon, police gave an update on the shooting. Watch the update in the player below.

The incident took place around 2:45 p.m. at Tanger Outlets, near 95th and Glendale avenues, just west of Westgate.

Within two minutes of the first 911 call, an officer arrived on scene:

"And was flagged down and advised that there was a four-year-old boy with a critical gunshot wound. That officer immediately rendered first aid," said Officer Tiffany Ngulala.

It reportedly began as a confrontation between a 17-year-old boy and two teenage boys. The 17-year-old is described by police as the "primary aggressor" who began shooting at the two teens.

The 17-year-old boy allegedly shot the 15-year-old boy, who returned fire. Police previously believed the other teenager, a 16-year-old boy, was shot, but have since clarified that he did not receive a gunshot wound.

A 27-year-old mother and her 4-year-old son who were shopping with the 17-year-old at the time of the incident were also shot by the return gunfire.

The 17-year-old boy and 15-year-old boy were known to each other prior to this incident, according to police.

Given that two teens fired the shots, here's Glendale Police's message for parents:

"Keep it in a gun safe or keep a gun lock on it. We want to make sure that those handguns don't get into essentially the hands of our children," said Officer Ngulala.

Businesses in the area were on lockdown for several hours as police investigated.

Patricia Dishon was just feet away from the teens police say are responsible for the shooting.

When a police officer came into the leggings store she was working at and told her to lock the door and hide, she called her boyfriend and mother to say she loved them and tell them the mall was on lockdown.

She shared a selfie video of her saying, "I want to go home," as she started to get emotional.

This was the second time she's had to hide on the job.

"I was praying it was like last time," she said.

Three months ago in early January, a Glendale officer stopped an armed man after an argument in the food court.

A second occurrence with a lockdown situation at her retail job has her rethinking safety at work.

"After everything that's going on, it's kind of scaring me a little bit. I like the idea of having a firearm on me to protect me if I were ever in that situation again because all I could think was, 'What if he comes in here, I have nothing to defend myself with,'" she said.

The lockdown was lifted around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Officers had evacuated the mall to help keep store employees and customers safe.

"They escorted us out of the store and walked us around the back," said one store employee who did not want her name used.

The store employee said she waited hours at the nearby Hampton Inn for the "all clear."

"It's just exhausting. It was frightening. It is sad things like that have to happen," added the woman.

Shoppers also witnessed the chaos.

Brian Kanu was among the many people who arrived and saw the investigation.

"As I pull up, I just saw the whole place taped up and locked down," said Kanu, who came to the outlet mall Wednesday wanting to return an item at one of the stores.

"I was kind of surprised. This stuff doesn't really happen on this side of town right next to the stadium. It is pretty tight when it comes to security," added Kanu.

Police say no suspects are outstanding.

Phoenix Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are assisting Glendale police in the investigation.

Aerial footage outside the St. Joseph's Westgate Medical Center, which is located near the shooting scene, also showed a vehicle with police tape around it.

On Thursday afternoon, police confirmed that the vehicle outside the hospital was used by the two teenagers, who were driven by someone else to the hospital.

AIR15