Michigan mall shooting leaves 2 dead, 1 wounded

DEARBORN, Mich. – Dearborn’s Fairlane Town Center erupted in chaos Friday afternoon after a shooting left two people dead and one injured.

Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin said officers responded to the shooting at the mall on Michigan Avenue around 1:25 p.m. Friday. One of the victims died in the mall; the other, at the hospital. Shahin said it appears that the shooting was not random.

“I don’t know the motive for it, but it appears that they know each other,” said Shahin.

The shooting on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday set off pandemonium. Several social media posts from shoppers in the mall showed people running to the exits and the sound of multiple gunshots in the background. One person was hit by a car during the rush of people trying to leave the scene. The person hit by the car was not involved in the shooting incident, Shahin said.

Felicia Royal of Royal Oak Township was inside the mall on Michigan Avenue when the shooting happened. She described hearing “a lot of shots.”

“It was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. … There was a lot of shots. It was a lot of shots. They shot a lot of times. So of course, everyone is running,” Royal said. “They pulled the gates down.”

Shahin called the incident “unacceptable.”

“The idea that it would happen in a public space, a mall where people are shopping, is unconscionable,” he said.

Shahin said police are interviewing some involved in the incident at the Dearborn Police Department, but “I can’t determine necessarily if they were the ones that developed the shooting. That would be premature.”

A third victim, meanwhile, is in the hospital. Shahin said all three of the victims who were shot are likely in their late teens or early 20s.

Both parties appeared to have had firearms, Shahin said.

The mall remained closed hours after the incident, with the area near JCPenney and Powerhouse Gym cordoned off. It was unclear late Friday afternoon when the mall would reopen.

In a Facebook post, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud urged those near the mall to stay clear of the area while police investigate.

“Please stay clear of Fairlane Mall while the police secure and investigate this incident,” he posted.

In a prepared statement, Dearborn City Council Member Bob Abraham said “loss of life is tragic” and offered his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

Friday’s shooting was not the first at Fairlane Town Center.

In May 2024, Dearborn police arrested a man in connection with a nonfatal shooting in the mall parking lot. Another nonfatal shooting outside the shopping center happened in December 2020.

And in November 2015, a man was arrested and charged in a robbery and shooting at the mall.

But Shahin said people shouldn’t be scared to go to Fairlane.

“This is a terrible, tragic incident that could happen anywhere,” he said. “Dearborn was the second safest city in the state of Michigan, and you know Dearborn is a safe community, but these random acts of violence can happen anywhere.”

Michigan mall shooting leaves 2 dead, 1 wounded

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