Editor’s note: Police have identified the suspected gunman, who remains at large.
Police closed the Maine Mall in South Portland on Wednesday after a shooting inside injured one person. But after a search lasting several hours, the suspect remained at large.
In a Facebook post shortly after 4 p.m., the South Portland Police Department asked the public to avoid the area of the mall. Police later said they were searching the building for a person suspected of shooting another person, adding that they believe it was an “isolated incident” and did not believe the public was at risk.
Police said one person was brought to Maine Medical Center. At about 8:30 p.m., South Portland Police Chief Dan Ahern said the victim was in surgery and is “expected to survive.”
Ahern said a “methodical search” of the mall for the shooting suspect “proved negative,” adding that the shooter may have left the building before police arrived.
“We are actively following leads as to the identification and whereabouts of the shooter,” Ahern said.
Gov. Janet Mills was briefed on the shooting, she said in a statement.
A man standing outside the mall around 5 p.m. Wednesday said he had been in the food court and left about five minutes before the reported shooting. He described people running by a bowling alley and later seeing one person being removed from the mall on a stretcher.
One woman was talking by speaker phone to a family member who was still inside during the police search.
“Just stay where you are,” she told them.
Anyone with information about the suspect or the shooting is asked to contact South Portland Police Detective Lieutenant Christopher Todd at 207-799-5511 Ext. 7448, christo@southportland.gov. An anonymous tip may be left at 207-347-4100.