This afternoon at about 3:40 PM, the Cal Police Department received a call in reference to multiple shots fired here at the Paddock Mall on State Road 200. We responded to that call that came in as an active shooter. We responded with the heavy police presence. Officers immediately made entry into the mall, ultimately discovered that this was not what we would consider an active shooter. There was a shooting that took place inside the mall that we believe was possibly a targeted act of violence. At this point in time, we have confirmed one adult male has passed away from gunshot wounds inside the mall in a common area. We have a secondary victim with a gunshot to her leg. She has been treated at a local hospital and is expected to survive those injuries. We know for a fact that our shooter was a black male dressed in a black hoodie, black pants. He had a black mask partially covering his face. He fled the mall being undetected. Right now we're searching for him. We're in the process of doing secondary sweeps of the mall to make sure everybody that might have done some sheltering in place or evacuated safely.

This investigation continues right now. We're being assisted right now by the sheriff's office here in Marion County. I've got under-sheriff Robert Douglas with us, the O'Callough Fire Department is here with us, Florida Highway Patrol responded as well, and the mayor is here with us to assist as needed. That's about all the facts that I'm going to release right now. I'll be happy to try to answer some questions. I'm not going to release a whole lot of information aside from what I've already told you all, but I'm happy to take questions. Any information to believe that the.

Victim that.

Has.

Passed away was.

The targeted shooting? That is what we believe at this time. I can also say that we have recovered the firearm that we believe used that was left behind here at the scene. Chief, I know.

Sometimes this could be a really chaotic situation while there might have been one injury from a gunshot wound, anybody inas hard to cramp away and things like that. Yeah. So the.

Question was, were there any other injuries or were we have again, one deceased from a gunshot wound? One woman that suffered a gunshot wound to her leg. We have some ancillary injuries. We had some chest pains. We have a broken arm being treated at the hospital as well.

Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the BBC News app, or follow us on social media.