Suspect in custody in Eastland Center fatal shooting

The Detroit News

Eastland Center mall in Harper Woods was on lockdown for a couple of hours on Saturday evening after a shooting outside the Burlington Coat Factory left one person dead.

A woman in the Eastland Center security office confirmed at 6:46 p.m. to The Detroit News the mall went on lockdown. At 7:52 p.m. an employee in the security office said the mall had been closed. The mall normally closes at 9 p.m, according to its website

Eastland Center shooting Ted Stager Harper Woods police deputy chief speaks about the Eastland Center shooting

Harper Woods Police Deputy Chief Ted Stager on the scene Saturday evening said the incident happened at 5:52 p.m. when a young man was shot multiple times as he walked out of the Coat Factory store. Sager said the victim died at the hospital and police have a suspect “associated with the shooting” in custody, but he didn’t know if the suspect is the shooter.

“We don’t know if there was an altercation that led up to the shooting or if it was an random act,” said Stager. He described the victim as a black male in his late teens or early 20s.

On The News’ Facebook page, one commenter said she was in the mall at the time of the shooting.

“I was nearby when I heard the shots me and my kids ran straight through Macy's and out the door!,” wrote Marjorie Mack.

In August 2014, two people were shot near a door of the mall’s closed Sears store. In September 2010, Cedell Henry Leverett, 30, was found shot several times as he sat in the driver's seat of his car in the mall parking lot. Two people were charged in his death.

In December 2014, an 18-year-old Detroit man was arraigned and charged after allegedly shooting at a motorist in Harper Woods during a altercation at the mall. The month before, shots also were fired in the mall's parking lot after an armed robbery that may have started with an argument over sneakers, police said.