On Feb. 15, at the reported local time of 5:05 p.m. a shooting took place at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, TX. The shooting resulted in the death of a 17-year-old identified as Angeles Zaragoza, as well as three other civilians critically injured.
The shooting was reported to have originated from a confrontation caused by two groups of people near the food court located in the mall. The verbal argument quickly turned into a physical altercation.
The first group of persons consisted of Angeles Zaragoza, a 17-year-old Hispanic male, a 16-year-old Hispanic male, a 14-year-old Hispanic male, a 17-year-old Hispanic female, and a 14-year-old Hispanic female.
The second group of people consisted of a 16-year-old male, who was identified as the shooter, a 20-year-old Hispanic male who was among the injured, a 15-year-old Hispanic male, and a 17-year-old male.
As the confrontation escalated to fighting, the 16-year-old suspect drew out a reported stolen handgun. The suspect then aimed and fatally shot the 17-year-old male, Angeles Zaragoza.
He also critically injured the 17-year-old male from the first group. During the chaos of the confrontation and the shooting, the 20-year-old Hispanic male was shot and injured. Right when the shooting immediately dissipated, the 16-year-old suspect then tried to run, aiming his gun toward other bystanders in the mall.
In the crowd of bystanders that the 16-year-old suspect had his handgun aimed at was 32-year-old civilian, Emanuel Duran. Soon after the aid of Duran, an off-duty El Paso Police Officer who was working security at one of the mall’s stores took the 16-year-old suspect into custody. Soon after the quick response of police and other agencies, the incident was brought under control.
Reported as of Feb. 23, one of the civilians injured who was taken to University Medical Center of El Paso was discharged on Feb. 22. One of the injured civilians taken to Del Sol Medical Center was discharged the morning of Feb. 23. The other injured civilian remains in hospitalization but is no longer in critical condition.
The 16-year-old suspect in the incident has now been charged with murder and a total of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Reportedly from police officials, he has now been assigned to the Juvenile Probation Department.
This shooting has come right off the heels of the deadly mass shooting on August 3, 2019, where a shooter took the lives of 23 civilians. This took place in Walmart, extremely close to the Cielo Vista Mall. Notably the shooter pleaded guilty to various weapon charges and hate crimes in court as a part of a plea deal earlier this year.
So far as of February 2023, there have been more than 70 mass shootings across the United States. A mass shooting being four or more people injured or killed according to Gun Violence Archive.
Cielo Vista Mall stated it will increase its security presence and reopen again most recently.
H. Catching Marginot is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected]
