

FLINT TWP., MI -- It wasn't a fight over the season's hottest toy -- instead, a shooting in a Toys R Us parking lot may have started with "a look," police say.

Police said an argument in the Toys R Us store in Flint Township on Monday evening, Dec. 7, may have started with "a look" and escalated to a shooting in the store's parking lot about 5:30 p.m. An 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman from Flint were arrested and jailed after police said the man fired several shots at a 25-year-old man, striking him in the leg.

"(The) argument possibly started over a look that led to shots being fired by the suspect," said Detective Sgt. Kevin Salter with the Flint Township Police Department.

The victim, also from Flint, was taken to Hurley Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Police arrested the suspect at his home, where they said they also recovered two handguns -- one confirmed stolen. He was taken into custody and lodged at the Genesee County Jail on a charge of assault with intent to murder, according to a news release from the Flint Township Police Department.

A 21-year-old Flint woman later turned herself in to Flint Township police, and she was also taken into custody and lodged at the Genesee County Jail on a charge of accessory after the fact to a felony, the release says.

Jillian Lalonde-Partlo, a former Flint Journal-MLive employee, said she was at the check-out inside the store at the time the shooting occurred. She said she couldn't hear the altercation take place, but a woman came running back into the store, screaming and crying, and other customers who had just left the store came back in saying shots had been fired.

"They recommended us not to go out until the cops came to make sure it was safe. We originally thought we were locked in," Lalonde-Partlo said. "When I walked out, it was all taped off. It still smelled of gunpowder, but I did not see anything."

Lalonde-Partlo said she decided to get some Christmas shopping done and was glad she did not have her children with her, although she said she felt safe inside the store.

"I was very thankful I didn't have them. I would never want them to see the screaming and anxiety that took over the store," she said. "I was just happy I ran back to get that extra toy. If I would have checked out the first time I was in line, I would have been out there."

Lalonde-Partlo said she'll think twice before shopping after dark again.

"Anyone walking out could have been hit by these people ... I thought I was safe early on a Monday night," she said.

Salter said police do plan to increase patrols in that area because of the shooting.