Syracuse police have arrested a 14-year-old on three charges related to shots fired at Destiny Mall in Syracuse last week.
Deputy Police Chief Richard Trudell said the child was someone already on police radar. He was also charged with a shooting incident in January, and he’d been on social media with guns as well as involved in other minor incidents, including car theft.
Trudell said the department has a protocol in cases like this involving teens.
"We go to the home and we speak to the parents to notify them. And we notify the school, to make sure the school knows this juvenile potentially have a firearm," he said. "From there we potentially notify probation, if they’re on probation, child protective. There’s a series of things we do if we know juveniles have firearms."
Trudell said continued news of teens with guns is something that is plaguing the city.
“We are taking steps with the family court system, the county attorneys, probation, all in an effort to improve our response,” Trudell said. “There are legislative requirements in family court that we can’t change. So we are following parameters as best we can.”
The boy is now in the Hillbrook Detention Center. Police said he shot a gun at a trash can at the mall last Friday during a dispute between two groups of teens. The mall went on lockdown and no one was hurt.
Destiny USA released a statement stating that the safety of their tenants remains a top priority:
“The safety and security of our tenants, employees, and guests is our top priority at Destiny USA. We are grateful to the Syracuse Police Department for their swift and effective work in identifying and arresting the suspect responsible for last week's incident."
