AURORA, Colo. — Police are investigating a shooting that occurred at approximately 4:00 p.m. at Town Center at Aurora Mall Friday afternoon.
A juvenile male, now identified as 17-year-old Nathan Poindexter, was found by police at JCPenney on the upper level with a gunshot wound. Poindexter succumbed to his injury after being transported to a local hospital.
The store and mall were busy at the time.
“We heard three shots that went ‘bang, bang bang,'” said Thomas Miller who was near JCPenney.
He and his family rushed into the storage area of another store until it was safe.
Officers are actively gathering information and pursuing leads.
According to police, this was not an active shooter incident.
#APDAlert We are investigating a shooting at the Town Center of Aurora. Heavy police presence on the South side of the mall. Please avoid the area. Updates will be given here. pic.twitter.com/hkaRbhyyae
— Aurora Police Dept. 🚔👮🏼♀️👮🏾♂️ (@AuroraPD) December 27, 2019
Police have arrested and charged Kamyl Xavier Garrette with murder in the first degree in connection with the shooting.
This is the second shooting at the mall in a few weeks.
Before Christmas, another juvenile male was shot. Police have not said if the shootings could be connected.
Aurora Police said one officer is regularly assigned to the mall and others patrol the area on occasion.
Right now, they said they don’t plan to change that.