BRAINTREE, MASS. (WHDH) - Braintree city leaders and South Shore Plaza officials are working together to strengthen the mall’s security following a shooting that left a 15-year-old girl injured.
Jose Rodriguez, 21, confronted a suspected gang member from a rival group on Friday just before 5 p.m. when he opened fire outside the Expressions sneaker store, according to a police report.
The bullets reportedly grazed the chest and hand of a 15-year-old girl, who police say was “simply spending time at the mall.”
She was found in a department store’s restroom and taken to an area hospital for treatment.
The shooting caused both a lockdown and a mass evacuation of the South Shore Plaza.
As customers ran out, former Marine Josh Ackles ran in.
“My training kicked in and I just did what I thought had to be done, which was help save lives and take out a threat,” he recalled.
Deputy Police Chief Michael Want says cellphone video from witnesses helped investigations move quickly.
“People are coming up saying, ‘I have video,'” he said. “We’re passing that info and descriptions and giving it to dispatch who relay it to responding units.”
Rodriguez faces a slew of charges and has been ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
Three years ago, there was another shooting at the South Shore Plaza that was also gang-related.
Security was enhanced after that incident, which Mayor Charles Kokoros says helped this time around.
“We have a way to get information out to all stores quickly at once, which is something that we didn’t have in ’17,” he said.
City leaders and mall officials had already begun planning on finding ways to improve security at the mall before the shooting. Those improvement talks have now become more urgent.
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