Fairfield, California: One Dead, Six Injured in Shooting Inside Spirit Halloween at Solano Town Center Mall

Updated 12:04 UTC: Police had detained no one by early Saturday and had not identified a suspect or suspects, Fairfield police said. The FBI office in Sacramento said it was deploying its Evidence Response Team to help the Fairfield Police Department after the shooting at a business on Gateway Boulevard. SWAT officers swept the mall on Friday night, including a cinema where moviegoers were watching the film Halloween. Caitlin Fry told CBS Sacramento that an officer in SWAT gear came into the theater near the end of the film, shone a large light around, and asked if anyone had come in with a gun. David Bernal told CNN affiliate KCRA that his wife was by the wig section of the Spirit Halloween store when shots rang out. She heard five big bangs, ran out an emergency exit, and was at home and still in shock, he said. The Solano Town Center has more than 130 shops and restaurants, sits about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco, and was scheduled to host Mall-O-Ween trick-or-treating for children on Saturday evening, according to the center website.

Updated 07:37 UTC: Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall told a press conference that one person was pronounced dead at the scene and six others were taken to hospital, with three listed in critical condition, after shots were fired inside the Spirit Halloween store at about 8:30 p.m. on Friday. Police gave no description of the suspected shooter, did not confirm whether there was more than one suspect, and gave no motive. Police said in a press release: "This is still a very active crime scene. Detectives are speaking with witnesses and diligently working to identify the suspect responsible for this horrific shooting." The store was open and filled with customers when the shooting began. A man told KCRA that his wife heard roughly seven shots before people ran for safety. Xinhua, citing local police, also reported one person killed and six others injured in the shooting on Friday evening.

Police in Fairfield, California were working a shooting incident at the Solano Town Center shopping mall on Friday night, officials said, in a response that drew officers from across Solano County to the Travis Boulevard mall on the night before Halloween.

Fairfield police first told the public only that officers were working an active incident at the mall and that updates would follow on the department social media pages. KION reported that police described the call as a shooting incident, and Fairfield Mayor Rick Vaccaro said it was a shooting at the mall. The mayor said he did not know how many people had been injured.

A large response at the mall

KTVU reported a large police presence in the area of the Spirit Halloween store, the seasonal shop inside the mall, and said witnesses told its sister station there was a shooting. Police had not confirmed those witness accounts in their first public notice, KTVU said. The California Highway Patrol confirmed its officers were at the scene and assisting, but did not give details.

A source told NBC Bay Area that police were working an active shooter incident at the mall, that the incident had left multiple victims hurt, and that officers were looking for the suspect. NBC Bay Area did not publish a victim count, and no agency had released one late Friday.

Suisun City Mayor Alma Hernandez said in a statement that reports of an active shooter at the mall had left multiple victims, that law enforcement was actively searching for the suspect, and that Suisun City police were supporting the search through mutual aid. "Our thoughts are with the City of Fairfield tonight," Hernandez said. She urged residents to follow the Fairfield Police Department and city accounts for updates and to use official sources for the latest information.

What is not yet known

Police had not released the number of people hurt, their conditions, a suspect description, or any account of how the shooting began late Friday. Numbers circulating online on Friday night came from scanner traffic and social media posts, and no police agency had confirmed them. Officers were still working the scene, and local reports said shoppers were moved out of the mall while police searched inside.

Police said a press conference was expected at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday. Until that briefing, the confirmed picture is narrow: a shooting incident at the Solano Town Center mall, multiple people hurt according to a source cited by NBC Bay Area and the neighboring mayor statement, a suspect still being sought, and a multi agency response that was still under way.

Anyone following the case should rely on Fairfield police updates rather than the unconfirmed counts moving through social media on Friday night.