Man Shoots Himself in Store

An employee ran through a Robinsons-May in Riverside Friday firing an automatic gun, then killed himself in an upstairs executive office, authorities said.

Terrified shoppers at the Galleria at Tyler mall, about five miles west of downtown Riverside, began placing emergency calls at 1:47 p.m., authorities said.

Witnesses told police the man fired at least six rounds in the department store where he worked.

“None of the shots were fired deliberately at anyone,” said Felix Medina, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department. “The suspect barricaded himself in an executive office and shot himself in the upper torso. We do not know what the motivation was.”

Witnesses said the shooting triggered panic throughout the mall.

Diane Mikus, 42, who was in the store, said, “People started yelling, ‘Run, there’s a man with a gun.’ People dropped shopping bags and purses and ran for the doors. Some who were trying on shoes ran out barefoot or with one shoe on.”

Mikus emerged from the store with her 10-year-old son and yelled: “There’s a guy right behind me shooting a gun.”

Hundreds of people in the mall began running, Mikus said.

“I didn’t stop running until I got to the Nordstrom on the far side,” she said.

Jahan Carter, 19, said he was standing just outside the Robinsons-May when he heard “a muzzled pop, pop, pop.”

Then a security guard began telling people there had been an accident and to move toward the exit without rushing, Carter said.

“But everybody was running and screaming anyway,” Carter said.

The mall was briefly evacuated, and no one was injured, authorities said.

Police declined to identify the gunman until relatives could be notified.