Boy, 8, killed after shooting in Alabama shopping centre

An eight-year-old boy has been killed after a gunman opened fire at a shopping centre.

Three people – a girl and two adults – were also injured after the incident at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, on Friday.

Police are still attempting to work out the motive for the shooting.

Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said: “This is certainly a tragic situation when you have an innocent child who gets caught in the middle of an altercation between others.”

Multiple shots were reported near the food court inside the shopping centre, police said.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he visited the boy’s parents on Friday evening.

“This was just a very senseless tragedy and of course they are devastated by this,” he said.

Annalisa Pope, who works at Hollister in the mall, told WBMA-TV that she heard six to seven shots being fired.

“It wasn’t just one or two,” she said. “That’s what got me off guard. They (the shots) just kept going.”

She said the gunshots “sounded like they were coming from every direction”.