Random fight leads to shopping mall shooting in U.S. El Paso

HOUSTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A random fight between two groups of young men led to the Wednesday shooting leaving one killed and three others injured inside a shopping mall in El Paso, a major border city in south central U.S. state Texas, authorities said Thursday.

The two groups of young men, aged late teens to early 20s, got into a fight at the Cielo Vista Mall's food court, El Paso Police Department's Interim Police Chief Peter Pacillas said. A person in one of the groups then pulled out a gun and fired it.

The shooting is not believed to be gang related, according to a report from local newspaper El Paso Times.

Cielo Vista Mall is adjacent to the Walmart store where a gunman killed 23 people in 2019. The Walmart shooter pleaded guilty last week to 90 federal charges including 23 counts of hate crimes targeting Latinos and resulting in death.