Police did not give a motive for the shooting near the food court inside the Riverchase Galleria.
An 8-year-old boy was killed Friday in a shooting at an Alabama shopping mall that left three other people injured, police said. Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said the child was killed in the afternoon shooting at the Riverchase Galleria.
The police chief said a girl and two adults were also hospitalized after the shooting.
The Bessemer City School system identified the 8-year-old victim as Royta Giles Jr. CBS affiliate WIAT-TV reports he would have been a third grader this fall at Jonesboro Elementary School.
The school system described him as “a smart child, who was a jewel, with big dreams of someday entering the music industry.”
“He was bright, articulate, and very convincing. We even tried to convince him to become a lawyer,” former assistant principal Van James said in the school system statement.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he visited with the boy’s parents Friday evening.
