Teen-Ager Is Wounded in Mall Parking Lot

A teen-ager getting into a car outside a Culver City shopping mall was hit by what police think may have been a stray bullet.

The 16-year-old, who was not named because of his age, was wounded in the upper body by a small-caliber bullet in the parking lot of the Fox Hills Mall and was hospitalized in good condition, said Culver City Police Sgt. Mike Maggio.

The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. “in the far perimeter” of a lot of the mall on Sepulveda Boulevard near the Marina Freeway, Maggio said.

The boy, who was leaving the mall with two friends, was taken inside for help.

Maggio said officers have little evidence to help them in their investigation.

In a separate, unrelated incident at about the same time inside the mall, two men were arrested after they attempted to rob a shopper of a gold chain, Maggio said.

The victim, he said, was slightly injured when he fell and struck his head during a struggle for the chain. The suspects, Maggio said, were taken into custody by security officers and turned over to police.