WAUWATOSA — Newly released records show several security cameras were not working during the shooting at Mayfair Mall last November.
Wauwatosa police used other cameras and witness interviews to piece together the shooting, which left eight people injured and a suspect in custody.
Friday's report shows the 15-year-old suspect's family exchanged text messages about trying to book a flight for the suspect. But police were able to arrest the 15-year-old.
TMJ4 News received the records from police using an open records request.
In a petition for juvenile delinquency, the teen faces eight felony counts of first-degree reckless injury, and one misdemeanor count of possessing a firearm while under 18 in connection with the Nov. 20 shooting.
According to the petition, the teen and a friend were in the mall that Friday when the friend confronted a group of people descending an escalator, yelling then punching one person in the group. Witnesses told police the teen was farther back and “took a shooter’s stance.” He began firing with a handgun drawn from his waistband, the petition said.
The teen fled and was arrested the following Sunday in a car with Illinois plates, with a packed bag and the handgun police said was used in the shooting, according to the petition.
Assistant Public Defender Paul Rifelj argued last February that the boy’s personality was that of a child and that the treatment services available to him in the juvenile system would be best to help him.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
