John Bacon, USA TODAYShare
Police and swat team members respond to a call of a shooting at the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wis., on Sunday.(Photo: Tom Lynn, AP)
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2:49PM EDT October 21. 2012 – At least seven people were shot Sunday near a suburban Milwaukee mall, and a manhunt was underway for the gunman, law enforcement and hospital officials said.
Deputies were on the scene of a shooting at Azana Salon and Spa across the street from Brookfield Square Mall, the Associated Press reports.
WISN-TV in Wisconsin reports that at least seven people were wounded. The TV station says area traffic has been redirected away from the mall and armed officers have surrounded spa. WISN reports that officials described a “mass casualty” situation and that the scene is not secured.
A woman who answered the phone at the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department told AP that the shooter remained at large. The shootings took place around 11 a.m. local time, or noon ET.
A screen shot from WISN television station in Milwaukee shows emergency equipment in the parking lot of Brookfield Square Mall in Brookfield, Wis.(Photo: WISN TV)
Milwaukee FBI spokesman Leonard Peace told AP that an FBI SWAT team, hostage negotiators, command staff and victims specialists were helping with the response. But he declined to say how many FBI personnel were involved in all or discuss whether a hostage situation was involved.
Beth Strohbusch, a spokeswoman for Froedtert Memorial Hospital, said four shooting victims were taken there, and three more were expected. She said none of the four already received were in critical condition.
WISN said police were asking people in the mall’s parking lot to clear out so officers were setting up operations there. Tactical teams were on the scene, as well as numerous fire, ambulance and police vehicles. A medical helicopter also was on the ground.
The shootings took place less than three months after the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. The temple shootings resulted in the death of seven people including the gunman who killed himself.
John Bacon
John Bacon has been with USA TODAY since 1983. His journalism odyssey has taken him from American Indian villages at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to several national political conventions.
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