Why did Fresno Police shut down one of the entrances to Fashion Fair Mall? It involved a gun

Fresno police shut down one of the entrances to Fashion Fair Mall to investigate a possible armed disturbance on Friday afternoon.

Officers were called around 4 p.m. to the mall after receiving reports of a disturbance between near one of the mall entrances, Lt. Bill Dooley said.

It turned out that a group of teens approached a 16-year-old and demanded he give them some of his property, police said.

When the teen refused, police said a 17-year-old who was part of the group pulled out a gun and the other two in the group started beating up the 16-year-old.

The 17-year-old then fled into the mall through a Forever 21 store entrance but not before handed off the gun to one of the other teens in his group, police said.

Police taped off the entry to investigate.

When the 17-year-old was later spotted exiting the mall, officers arrested him and found ammunition in his backpack but no gun.

Police were not able to find the two other teens in the group or locate the firearm.

The 16-year-old victim was examined by paramedics for minor injuries and released at the mall.

Dooley said officers examined surveillance video to figure out if there had been an armed robbery, as had been initially reported.

This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 5:25 PM.