PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A 17-year-old Pawtucket boy has been charged in the shooting in the garage at Providence Place mall Monday night, as police search for more suspects.
Chief Hugh T. Clements Jr. said that detectives arrested the teen at a house on North Main Street, just over the city line in Pawtucket, a few hours after the shooting. The boy is charged with felony assault, and the chief said he’s believed to be “the main person involved.”
A Family Court judge remanded the boy to the Training School. Police have not found the firearm.
The incident started with a fight between eight to a dozen people outside Foot Locker around 4:40 p.m., Clements said. The fight spilled into Nordstrom and then out into the garage, where a 19-year-old man was shot in the leg, he said.
The victim made his way back into the store; some witnesses posted cell phone video on social media of blood on the floor.
While the chief said the detectives were still investigating, he said he “wouldn’t rule out” gang involvement.
Youth Services Detective Chris Calise, one of the first officers on the scene, applied a tourniquet to the young man’s leg to stop the bleeding, Clements said. As police officers and the special response unit swarmed into the mall, visitors and employees were evacuated and blocked from entering the garage for several hours.
As detectives gathered information at the scene and viewed surveillance video, the chief said, they zeroed in on a vehicle and the Pawtucket teenager. That led to his arrest late Monday night.
The victim, meanwhile, is still recovering. The police have not yet identified him.