US officials in State of California have announced that at least two people were killed in a shooting at a clothing store in Los Angeles on Thursday, US local media have reported.
A police official said that the shooting took place at around 11:45 a.m. in a Burlington clothing store in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley and the police chief called the incident “devastating and tragic".
A teenage girl in a dressing room was fatally shot by police who were firing on an assault suspect at a store full of last-minute holiday shoppers Thursday, authorities said.
The 14-year-old girl was found dead behind the dressing room wall, Los Angeles police officials said, CBS News reported.
Assistant Police Chief Dominic Choi said at a news conference that a preliminary investigation indicated that the teen was fatally struck by an officer’s round.
"These are a tragic and unfortunate sequence of events," Choi said.
Officers also shot and killed the assault suspect, police said.
A third person, whom police described as the victim of an assault that triggered the first calls to officials, was hospitalized with unspecified injuries, authorities said.
It wasn't clear whether or how the suspect, the girl and the assault victim were related, Choi said.
In a written statement, police said the girl and her mother had been out of the officers' view in the changing area behind a wall when the officers encountered the suspect on the other side of the wall.
MA/5382747/PR