Paddock Mall in Ocala reopens amid ongoing search for shooting suspect
Paddock Mall reopens after Ocala shooting
The Paddock Mall in Ocala has reopened days after a man opened fire inside the mall and amid an ongoing search for the suspect. One woman, who was inside the mall during the shooting, told FOX 35 that she's still healing physically and emotionally from the incident.
OCALA, Fla. - The Paddock Mall in Ocala is back open. It’s been closed since a gunman opened fire there Saturday, killing a man and shooting a woman in the leg.
FOX 35 spoke with a woman who’s still healing after being shoved around in the stampede of people fleeing the gunfire. She’s one of many traumatized people who are still hoping the shooter gets caught.
Ocala police have doubled their reward for information, hoping for that same result.
Alicia Blakely went to the Paddock Mall on Saturday with her husband and her two sons.
"My husband went to Sunglass Hut, but I still wanted to roam around," she explained.
They weren’t there long, before Ocala police said 39-year-old Albert Shell Jr. opened fire.
Credit: Ocala Police Department
MORE: What we know about alleged suspect in Ocala Paddock Mall shooting
"Everything was so cheerful. And then it just turned into, like, screams, like, survivor mode," Blakely recalled, her voice shaking through tears. "Everybody was running … It was a lot of chaos, like pushing."
Police say 40-year-old David Barron was shot to death. Another woman was hit in the leg.
"It was packed," said Blakely. "(The shooter) could have hit anybody. A bullet don't have no name on it."
At first, police said calls came in about an active shooter – but they didn’t know until later the gunfire was targeted.
Ocala police give updates on Paddock Mall shooting
Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken held a press conference Saturday evening following a reported shooting inside Paddock Mall. A man was killed and a woman was shot in the leg. Others were hurt amid the chaos. Police said the suspected shooter ran away from the mall after the shooting and is being sought by authorities.
"Certainly, having an incident like this in a very public sphere like this makes this case very important to us," said Major Steve Cuppy of the Ocala Police Department.
Blakely said people just panicked and scattered. Amid the chaos, she said she was separated from her husband and children. While they were apart, she didn’t know whether they’d been hurt..
"People were stumbling over each other," she said, adding that she hasn't been sleeping and still dreams about what happened.
"It just make you think, life is the biggest thing. Everything else is materialistic," she said.
Ocala mall shooting: 'Person of interest' sought by police
The Ocala Police Department released photos overnight of a "person of interest" possibly connected to the deadly shooting Saturday at the Paddock Mall. Police said a man is dead and a woman was hurt in an apparent "targeted" shooting that happened inside the mall.
Police have doubled the reward for information about Shell Jr. to $10,000. That’s on top of a $3,000 reward for information about a man who took the shooter’s hat from the crime scene.
"This is not acceptable behavior. This is a very public place, being a mall and having something like this occur," said Major Cuppy. "And it's very important to us to get Shell Jr. into custody so we can hold him accountable for what we believe he did."