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April 16 (UPI) -- A suspect has been arrested under an initial charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol after 14 people were injured during a shooting at a South Carolina mall on Saturday. Jewayne M. Price, 22, was one of three men who had been detained as people of interest and may face additional charges, officials with the Columbia Police Department said in a statement.
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Police have released the other two men after determining that they had not been involved with the shooting in the Columbiana Centre Mall.
However, police officials indicated that there may be at least one more suspect tied to the shooting.
Surveillance video and witness statements indicate that at least three suspects had displayed firearms. A preliminary examination of ballistic evidence also indicates that at least two firearms were used by two suspects. One weapon was recovered.
Price will be housed at the Lexington County Detention Center, police officials said. A potential bail has not yet been set.
Police have also updated the victim count from 12 to 14, including nine with gunshot wounds. The five other victims had injuries including broken bones and lacerations after a stampede trying to flee the mall.
Most of the victims had been transported to local hospitals while at least two had self-reported, Chief William Holbrook said during a press conference on Saturday.
Two of the victims had been in critical but stable condition, Holbrook said. He noted that the ages of the victims with gunshot wounds ranged from 15 to 73. Just one victim, a 73-year-old woman, remains hospitalized.
Holbrook said Saturday that multiple rounds were fired near a Gap store in the mall around 2:30 p.m. prompting a response from multiple agencies including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"We have three people detained. What we know is that at least three people were seen with firearms inside the mall and at least one person fired a weapon. That could change," he had said.
"We believe that the individuals that were armed knew each other. There was some kind of conflict that occurred that resulted in gunfire. This was not a situation where we had some random person show up at a mall to discharge a firearm and injure people. "
Holbrook said earlier Saturday evening that police were still working to evacuate the building but have "accounted for everyone that's been injured."
"We did an initial sweep for people that were injured and we got them with medical personnel and got them transported," he said.
"We had the individual stores took immediate security measures and locked the stores down and we had everybody shelter in place, so we have teams now methodically going through the mall and removing folks that they find who have sheltered in place and moving them to the unification site."
Holbrook said that those who are evacuated from the mall were taken to a nearby Fairfield Inn to be reunited with their friends and family members.
"We're asking that the public stay out of the area, as I've said it's very active. We have a lot of roads that are closed down. We ask for continued cooperation with that," he said.
"We still have law enforcement teams inside the mall. We've but the reason that we still have teams inside the mall is that they're clearing, it's a large mall, they're clearing stores one at a time."
Holbrook noted that mall security was "invaluable" in the response to the shooting.
"The management has been on-site with us as well as their security and we thank them for that, and especially the security measures that went on inside the mall itself," he said. "You can tell that training paid off in this situation, it was very chaotic."
The Columbiana Centre Mall is about 10 miles northwest of downtown Columbia.
Mall officials called the shooting an "isolated, senseless act of violence" in a statement.
"Our thoughts are with everyone impacted," mall officials said. "We are grateful for the quick response and continued support of our security team and our partners in law enforcement."
