Green Acres Mall shooting: Shoplifting suspect fires gun during struggle with security officer

Police are searching for a shoplifting suspect who fired a gun during a struggle with a security officer in a store in Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, causing stores in the mall to go into a lockdown protocol and area schools to briefly institute lockout procedures.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the incident occurred at 11:11 a.m. Monday inside Clique, a second-floor clothing store. After the suspect discharged his weapon, Ryder said, he fled to a red SUV in the attached parking garage. The suspect had been wearing gray sweatpants, a red shirt and sneakers — but as a result of the struggle with the mall officer, he fled wearing only the shirt, boxer shorts and one sneaker, Ryder said.

No one was struck by the discharged round, which Ryder said "went into the ground."

After a sweep of the mall by patrol officers, as well as officers from the Bureau of Special Operations, Emergency Services Unit and State Police, the mall was reopened, Ryder said.

Video surveillance from the mall showed the vehicle fleeing east on Mill Road, according to Ryder. He said no weapon was found but police recovered a spent round and a shell casing.

Ryder said the incident began when a security agent confronted the suspect, who was attempting to shoplift items by layering clothing under his own clothes.

When confronted, Ryder said, the suspect told the security agent he was armed, resulting in a struggle into the main area of the mall.

"He started to struggle with him and then said, 'I've got a gun,' and pulled his gun out," Ryder said. During the struggle the shot was fired, he added.

The security agent was unarmed and was not injured, Ryder said.

The mall then "went into immediate lockdown," the police commissioner said, which included both automatic and manually operated gates being closed in front of all stores to prevent the suspect from entering businesses. He said schools were then notified of the suspect at large and instituted lockout procedures designed to keep anyone from entering a campus and preventing students from leaving.

Ryder said following a detailed search of the mall, as well as surrounding locations, police were satisfied the suspect was no longer in the area — and the lockdown and lockouts were ended. Buildings in the Valley Stream 30 and Lynbrook school districts had gone into lockouts, a school district spokeswoman said.

Police described the suspect as being in his early 20s, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with a thin build and black hair with blond frosted tips.

Police ask anyone with information to call Nassau Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.

With John Asbury

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”