A juvenile was wounded when shots erupted in the North Parking Deck of the Riverchase Galleria Saturday afternoon.

Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said the shooting happened about 4 p.m. Officer responded to a call of shots fired in the North Parking Deck. Witnesses told officers two groups of teenage males were fighting when one of the males brandished a handgun and fired a shot. Both groups fled the scene prior to the arrival of law enforcement.

At 4:20 p.m. , officers located a 15-year-old male inside Von Maur suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip. He was treated by Hoover Fire medics and later transported to Children’s of Alabama by his family with a non-life threatening injury. No other injuries have been reported.

Czeskleba said there are no suspects in custody at this time. The suspected shooter has been described as a teenage Hispanic or black male that was seen leaving in a red SUV.

Police had more than a half-dozen teens - boys, girls, black, and white - seated in a straight line on a curb outside of Von Maur at one point, talking with them.

Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Reggie Parker at 205-739-7448. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward can call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

The North Parking deck was the scene of a shooting in June that left a 20-year-old UAB student dead. Zachariah Taylor Music was killed on the fifth floor of the deck in what police said was a drug deal and armed robbery. Two suspects have been charged.

His killing is one of three homicides since the Galleria opened its doors on Feb. 19, 1986, including the Thanksgiving Night death of E.J. Bradford who was shot by Hoover police responding to another shooting inside the mall. That killing that was ruled justifiable after a lengthy investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Attorney General’s Office.

The only other homicide took place in 2000 when a former Birmingham police cadet – Jennifer Leigh Brown of Bessemer – shot Ralphael Perry in one of the parking decks in a drug deal gone bad. Prosecutors said she planned to buy Perry clothes on her credit card in exchange for drugs. When things didn’t go her way, she shot Perry three times in the head. In 2003, Brown was sentenced to 25 years in prison. She has served 16 years and currently is assigned to a Birmingham work release center. She will be considered for parole next year.

Each year, an estimated 15 million to 17 million people walk through the doors at the Galleria, which is the 43rd largest indoor mall in the U.S. Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector told AL.com last month that because of the perception of late that the mall is not safe, police officials took an extensive look at police calls and reports over the past 2 ½ years and have analyzed those numbers.

Between Jan. 1, 2017 through July 8, 2019, Hoover officers responded to 1,627 incidents at the mall, according to statistics released by the department. The majority – 74 percent – were related to theft or fraud and the majority were misdemeanors.

“That equates to just over one theft-related request for police service per day,’’ Rector said. “So, with a shopping center with about 200 stores, we certainly don’t consider 1.3 theft reports per day to be alarming.”

Only 26 incidents – or 1.6 percent – were considered serious or significant felonies.