Millcreek police ID, charge teens in fight where a shot was fired inside Millcreek Mall
Millcreek PA September 23 2022
Authorities investigating an altercation at the Millcreek Mall that resulted in a gun being produced and a shot fired on Sunday afternoon said they have now identified all six suspects in the incident, including the person believed to have brought the gun.
All face criminal charges related to the incident, according to the Millcreek Township Police Department.
Five of the six are juvenile males between the ages of 15 and 17 and will be charged under juvenile allegations, Millcreek Police Captain Don Kucenski said. Two are facing aggravated assault and related offenses for their accused participation in the fight, two are facing simple assault and disorderly conduct charges, and one is facing weapon possession offenses related to the gun, Kucenski said.
The sixth accused participant, 18-year-old Erie resident James E. Troop III, was arraigned Tuesday on charges including aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Police accuse Troop of beating up one of the juveniles and with fighting with another juvenile when the gun was produced, a struggle ensued over the weapon and a shot was fired from the gun and went into the ceiling.
No one was injured in the shot-fired incident, which led some of the mall’s stores to close while the entire complex remained open.
Troop remained in the Erie County Prison Thursday on $25,000 bond.
Millcreek Township police have charged all six teenage suspects in a fight at the Millcreek Mall that led to the firing of a gun inside on Sept. 18, 2022.
Authorities said the shooting happened shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday near the Macy’s entrance adjacent to the Millcreek Mall’s food court. It involved two groups of three teenagers, according to police.
Investigators wrote in the criminal complaint against Troop that he was seen on surveillance video fighting with one of the juveniles, and slamming the boy to the ground. Troop was then seen engaging in a fight with another of the juveniles as other suspects were seen kicking the boy on the ground in the head, according to information in the complaint.
A gun was produced as Troop fought with the second juvenile, and as they wrestled for the gun it went off and fired a shot into the ceiling, according to information in the complaint. Investigators said they later recovered the gun, a Taurus G25 9 mm, in the mall’s parking lot.
The six teens ran off after the shooting. One was quickly apprehended near the Men’s Wearhouse store south of the main mall building, and two were later apprehended in Erie by the Pennsylvania State Police, according to investigators.
Millcreek police identified the other three suspects in the course of their investigation.
Officials at the Millcreek Mall have had some follow-up discussions with the Millcreek Police Department following Sunday’s incident, to discuss any policy changes that could be made in terms of patrols or police visibility, said Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for mall owner the Cafaro Company.
Bell said some adjustments have been implemented, but he declined to address them.
Bell said reviewing security is something the mall owners do on a regular basis as part of overall operations. He said the mall’s internal security has a good working relationship with Millcreek police and works with the department regularly.
