A night of last-minute Halloween shopping turned deadly at a Spirit Halloween store this weekend, where a shooting left a pregnant woman dead and six others injured. Disturbing video from inside the store showed shoppers scrambling for cover.
The gunfire broke out at about 8:30 p.m. Friday at the seasonal store in Fairfield, a city near San Francisco. The shooter has not been identified, and no arrests have been announced, according to the Fairfield Police Department.
Police said Saturday afternoon that the only person killed was 31-year-old Constance Hages. Her family informed authorities that she was pregnant.
Three victims remain hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities have not released their names but said they are men aged 16, 19 and 32.
A 23-year-old man was also hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Two other victims—a 19-year-old man and a 43-year-old man—were treated for gunshot wounds and later released, police said.
Video recorded by a witness captured terrified shoppers dropping to the floor as gunshots echoed through the store.
Jocelyn Lopez Tabares, 15, told the New York Post that she began recording so she would have evidence, then called her mother.
She said she initially mistook the first sounds for a balloon popping, until her older sister pulled her to the ground.
Gunfire erupted inside a Spirit Halloween store in Fairfield, California, on Friday night, leaving one person dead and six injured
Constance Hages, 31, was identified as the shooting fatality. Her family told police she was pregnant. Picture source: Tonya Marzett/Facebook
“I was in shock, and everyone just went down. My sister pulled me down because I couldn’t move. I was so scared,” Lopez Tabares recalled.
“All I could hear was people screaming and running from the back to the front,” she said.
Lopez Tabares said she feared she would not survive, adding emotionally: “I didn’t want to die that way.”
She described customers rushing toward the exits while she and her sister hid inside the store, trying to protect themselves.
The shaken teenager also said she heard a mother crying out for her baby after the shooting began.
Miena Davis, another witness, told local NBC affiliate KCRA that she heard a mother calling for her child and described the store as descending into “immediate panic.”
Javier Espinoza told the station that he and his girlfriend moved toward the front of the store. He said he and another witness lifted the security gate to help shoppers get out.
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Janet Jacobo, who was shopping with her three sons, told the New York Times that she ran from the store with her youngest child in her arms after hearing the shots.
Jacobo said her children were terrified. In an effort to comfort them after the traumatic incident, she told them the noise was part of a “scary show at the Halloween store.”
Police said three men, aged 16, 19 and 32, were hospitalized in critical condition. A 23-year-old man was in critical but stable condition, while two other victims were later released
No arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing as a large police presence responded to the shooting
The investigation remains active. In a statement Saturday morning, the Fairfield Police Department said the shooting appeared to have “stemmed from a targeted incident involving one suspect inside the Spirit Halloween store.”
“We encourage everyone to remain vigilant, look out for one another, and report any suspicious activity,” the department said.
“The safety of our community remains our priority, and our department remains committed to working alongside our community to ensure everyone can enjoy a safe Halloween.”
Another community was shaken Friday night when a separate shooting occurred as shoppers searched for last-minute costumes at a Spirit Halloween store in Michigan.
The shooting followed an altercation between a 21-year-old Detroit man and a 21-year-old man from Oak Park, according to the Madison Heights Police Department.
The Detroit man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Police recovered a 9mm handgun at the scene.
The Oak Park man suffered injuries that were not life-threatening after bystanders assaulted him. Officers took him into custody, and police said criminal charges are expected.
A separate shooting took place Friday at a Spirit Halloween store in Michigan. The suspect’s wife, Alanna, said her husband fired in self-defense
The suspect’s wife, identified only as Alanna, told Click on Detroit that her husband fired his weapon to protect himself.
She said they were leaving the store with their three children when an acquaintance confronted them. Alanna claimed her husband fired because he feared the other man was armed.
“If he didn’t have that gun, and we walked out here and all those people would’ve jumped on him, would I be at the hospital right now praying over my husband? He defended me, himself, and his kids,” she said.
Our News Outlet has contacted the Fairfield Police Department and the Madison Heights Police Department for updates on the investigations into the two shootings.
