Police have identified an 18-year-old man as the suspect in Monday night’s shooting at the University Mall in South Burlington.
South Burlington police say they’re looking for Tyshane Smith, who they allege was the lone shooter in the incident. One innocent bystander was taken to the hospital after he was hit by shrapnel, suffering minor injuries.
“Smith has been positively identified as the lone shooter in this incident,” South Burlington police said in a statement. He’s about 6 feet tall with a thin build, police said.
Smith and his associates fled after the shooting, police allege, leaving behind the pistol that investigators believe was used.
South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke said the incident began when two groups of teenagers got into a dispute near the Kohl’s department store and the mall’s food court area. Burke said Smith was at the mall in a group of six to eight people. The group he got into a dispute with, Burke said, “might have been just as large.”
The argument escalated until, Burke alleged, Smith fired a 9mm handgun five times; security footage makes clear that Smith allegedly fired the shots directly at his target.
“They definitely were not warning shots, but when we’re talking about a gun used in this fashion, we’re not talking about a trained individual who knows how to use these things,” Burke said. “He definitely shot in the direction of the primary person” he was arguing with.
An incident in which a shooter takes direct aim is “of grave concern,” Burke said, “and when it compounds to include others in the area that were associates of this group and other people in the mall that weren’t involved at all, that’s a very concerning pattern.”
Police say they’re working “a variety of leads” about Smith’s whereabouts. Burke said investigators have been interviewing witnesses, most of whom have been “not necessarily inclined to cooperate with police,” which has made tracking Smith down more challenging. It’s not clear exactly where Smith has been living in recent weeks, the chief said.
It’s unclear whether the teenagers left the mall in cars, on foot, or by public transportation, Burke said. He said officers have been expanding their search of security footage to try to determine that information.
“Information is coming in slowly, piece-by-piece,” Burke said. Smith “hasn’t been enrolled in school or anything like that, or employed in any steady fashion,” though he definitely has family ties to the area.
South Burlington police ask anyone with information about Smith to call them at 802-846-4111.
Read the story on VTDigger here: South Burlington police hunt for a suspect in University Mall shooting.