3 dead in shooting at KC shopping mall

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A shooting at a Kansas City shopping center has left at least three dead, including the gunman, police said. A fourth person was found dead at a home in the area and the death appears to be linked to the gunman, police said.

Two of the victims were killed about 3:45 p.m. in the parking lot of the Ward Parkway Center in south Kansas City. The victims were found in their vehicles, which were parked on either side of the gunman's car.

The gunman, whose name wasn't released, fired more shots in the parking lot, wounding at least two others before he went inside the mall, police spokesman Tony Sanders said.

Police shot the man to death outside a Target store inside the mall, Sanders said. The gunman's body remained inside the mall early Sunday evening.

"It sounded like firecrackers at first," said Cassie Bradshaw, 19, of Kansas City, who was at her first day of work at the Target.

She said she was in a break room with two other people when they heard shots. She said co-workers saw a white man in his 50s with a rifle.

"They said he was shooting everywhere," she said.

The shooting spree appeared to be linked to the discovery of an elderly women's body at a home about 2 p.m. The women's car was missing, Sanders said.

About 3:15 p.m., an officer pulled over a car that matched the description of the victim's vehicle. The gunman fired a handgun, shooting the officer in the arm. The officer, whose wound was not life-threatening, returned fire, shooting out the window of the gunman's car. The car took off and was seen at the mall.

Police received several calls from people who saw a man with a "long gun" at the mall, Sanders said.

The mall, one of the city's busiest shopping centers, was shut down and officers were going through each store to see if anyone else might have been involved and still be around, Sanders said.

Aaron Washington, 34, a worker at Target, said the shooting appeared to happen near the store's entrance into the mall. He said he was coming back from lunch when he heard gunshots.

"The only person we saw was a black gentleman holding his eye. The man had apparently been shot," Washington said.