Fox News Flash top headlines for March 18
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An underage boy was shot Friday near an Oregon shopping mall, prompting local police agencies to respond and nearby schools to go into lockdown.
The Salem Police Department advised people to avoid the downtown area near the Salem Center mall after reports of shots fired around 2:15 p.m. When officers responded to a business near High Street NE and Chemeketa Street NE, they found the juvenile with a gunshot wound.
He was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Police initially stressed that the shooting was not an active shooter incident before saying that it was a short time later. Fox News has reached out to the police department.
Officers searched the shopping mall and escorted employees and customers out of the building. No other victims were found and no suspect was arrested, police said.
Authorities said no other shots were fired after reports on social media said there had been.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools said it placed its Downtown Learning Center and the Howard Street Charter School on lockdown due to the police activity.
Students were not being released during the lockdown and parents were asked to not go to the school's campus.
Amirah Montaner, 19, told the Statesman Journal she was inside the mall when shots were fired. She said she saw a group of kids yell at another group of kids outside the mall before overhearing someone in the group telling someone to show a gun.
The Salem Center in downtown Salem, Oregon. Authorities responded to the area Friday after reports of shots fired. (Google Maps)
"He shot four or five times before he ran off. I looked up and I see smoke coming out of the gun as he's running and still shooting," she said. "It took me a second to register it actually happened. I ran in the opposite direction."
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"I think what's the most shocking is they looked like they were about my age or younger," she added. "He wasn't necessarily even looking at what he was shooting. He was just kind of shooting."
Authorities have not disclosed if anyone was injured or if an arrest has been made.
