FAIRFIELD, Ala. (WIAT) -- The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate a shooting inside the food court at Western Hills Mall on Sunday evening that sent a 21-year-old man to UAB Hospital and resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Birmingham resident.
No arrests have been announced in the shooting investigation. According to the JCSO, 32-year-old Darin Marquese Hall was pronounced dead at Princeton Baptist Medical Hospital around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
Henry Irby, the spokesperson for the JCSO, said Hall was an innocent bystander.
“It’s really gut wrenching that someone would be as brazen as the two groups to have gunfire in a public place, in a food court, and then an innocent bystander was killed,” Irby said.
Deputies responded to the Western Hills Mall around 5 p.m. Sunday to investigate a report of a person being shot. That’s when they discovered a 21-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound.
Investigators said two groups of people “exchanged words,” which led to gunfire in the food court. Hall was taken by a personal vehicle to Princeton Baptist Medical Hospital, where he died.
Fairfield Mayor Eddie Penny said he wants to see greater security at the indoor shopping center, and he plans to meet with mall officials.
“We’re going to have to sit down with the management team there, as well as the owner, and try to discuss a security plan that we can try to make people feel safer going there to shop," Penny said.
“No Guns” signage is clearly posted outside the entrance to the mall.
Dion Watts is the director of ministries with Urban Hope Community Church in Fairfield. His brother died because of gun violence.
“To see an innocent life taken is never easy,” Watts said. “It’s always something that we grieve over, but it’s the consequences of sin and the brokenness that we see in our community.”
Watts believes finding a solution to gun violence involves more than addressing security challenges.
“I really believe we need a spiritual awakening in our community,” Watts said. “People need to know that they’re loved by their creator but also that there’s a consequence to living a life in opposition to his commands and his standards, and it results in the evil and chaos that we see in our community.”
Watts said he believes the breakdown of the family in their community also needs to be addressed.
“When we have more two-parent families,” Watts said, “when we have more families that are living according to the way God is designed family to take place, you have less of these young men that live recklessly like this and with the anger built up in their hearts.”
The Western Hills Mall will reopen Tuesday, according to mall spokesperson Sheila Smoot. She said they have 24-hour security on site and installing metal detectors is not a present option. Smoot said the mall is committed to staying in the community.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the JCSO at 205-325-1450 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.