Court documents detail what led to the Arizona Mills Mall shooting; 3 arrested

TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) – Three people, including a teenager, have been arrested more than a month after a shooting broke out in the food court of the Arizona Mills Mall.

Tempe police say a 16-year-old suspect faces aggravated assault, endangerment, disorderly conduct and unlawful discharge of a firearm charges for the shooting.

In addition, 19-year-old Gabriel Victor Garcia was arrested for aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, endangerment and wrongful discharge.

Police also said Marvin Hooks, 22, was arrested on a felony charge of conspiracy over the alleged crime.

Court documents obtained by Arizona’s family showed that gunshot wounds were found in the ceiling, wall, signage and pillars of the food court, causing approximately $500 worth of damage and causing mass panic among store patrons.

No injuries have been reported.

The teen was identified as the pistol shooter and Garcia was identified as the rifle shooter, police said.

Police say the teen has admitted to being involved in the shooting. Arrest documents say the teen said he first thought about fighting the victim or hitting him with a gun, but decided to shoot instead.

He said the victims shot guns at him as he walked through the mall and that they had shot him before, but they did not tell police because it was a group of seven.

According to court papers, the teen said the victims had an ongoing argument with him, which reportedly included shooting at Hooks’ home earlier this year, which was confirmed by a Phoenix police report at the time.

In an interview with investigators, Hook initially said he did not know who the shooter was, but then said the teen and “Vic,” who police say is Garcia, were the shooters. However, Hook said he was “only there to buy a hat and was driving away when the shooting started.”

Hook explained that he didn’t know until later that their “his enemies” were at the mall and “expresses his anger that his mother’s houses were shot at.” Hook admitted he wanted to get revenge, but knew he couldn’t because he was on probation, police said.

As the interview continued, Hook said he had already seen the victim as they were walking around and “wanted to try to fight them” because they had shot up his house. But when the shooting happened, it put him off the confrontation.

He then talked about flashbacks and said he would ask them to fight, the documents said.

All three suspects have been jailed.

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