Police investigating reported shooting in Cumberland Mall parking lot in suburban Atlanta

4/21/2014

ATLANTA — Police around Atlanta were searching for a suspect today after a woman was shot in the middle of the afternoon in a mall's parking lot.

A man and a woman were involved in some sort of fight just before the shooting outside Cumberland Mall in northwest Atlanta, Cobb County Police Sgt. Dana Pierce said.

The man shot the woman, fired at a bystander who tried to help her and then shot the woman again, he said. The bystander wasn't injured and details on the woman's injuries and identity were not immediately available, Pierce said.

The bullet that missed the bystander hit a wall of a nearby department store, Pierce said. He added that the mall was relatively busy when the shots were fired, and about 25 cars were parked inside an area police cordoned off while they investigated the shooting.

The shooting outside of a Macy's department store didn't appear to be random, and it's unclear what the two were arguing about, Pierce said.

Witnesses told investigators that the shooter got in the passenger seat of a white van and left. It was unclear if the suspect was a passenger, or if the man got into the driver's seat, Pierce said.

The suspect is described as a heavyset black man in his 50s with short hair. He was last seen wearing glasses, a gray shirt and a blue hat, Pierce said. The van he was riding in was fitted with a ladder rack on top and had a white tube running from the front to back, Pierce said.