One dead, 6 injured in shooting inside Spirit Halloween at California shopping mall

One person was killed and six others were injured in a shooting at a Spirit Halloween store in California packed with last-minute Halloween shoppers on Friday night.

Gunfire rang out inside the seasonal retail store at the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield, Calif., at around 8:30 p.m., Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall said during a press conference.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while six others were rushed to a hospital, where three are listed in critical condition.

Police did not reveal any description of the suspected shooter, who remains at large, and did not confirm if there were more than one suspect.

A motive behind the shooting was not revealed.

"This is still a very active crime scene. Detectives are speaking with witnesses and diligently working to identify the suspect responsible for this horrific shooting," police said in a press release.

The ages and identities of the victims were not immediately released.

The store was open and filled with customers when the shooting began, sending shoppers fleeing for their lives.

"Well, she just told me she heard some shots and the people running, yelling and crying already," one witness described what his wife experienced to KCRA.

The man said his wife heard roughly seven shots ring out before bystanders raced to safety, heading out into the parking lots and further into the mall.

The temporary, pop-up Halloween store took over the space once occupied by Best Buy at the mall that holds approximately 130 stores.

"I was in Chipotle a girl working in Spirit ran in & said they came in & just started shooting," one person said, according to the Vacaville Reporter.

SWAT teams worked their way through the mall, checking all areas to see if the shooters were hiding inside.

One of the sweeps was conducted in the Regal Edwards movie theater, where about a dozen people had been watching a showing of the horror film "Halloween."

"Towards the end of the film and all of a sudden a police officer in full SWAT gear came storming in and he had a very large Maglite and he started waving it all over the theater and asked us if anyone came in that had a gun," Caitlin Fry told CBS Sacramento.

Moviegoers said the scary scene inside the theater brought back heartbreaking images from the Aurora mass shooting, where 12 people were killed.

"I was afraid after (the SWAT officer) came in, I thought about 'Dark Knight' in Colorado — the shooting that happened there years ago," Fry's partner Marty McCoy said.

"I told her I don't know what's going to happen when we walk out of here, just remember 'run, hide, fight' and I love you just in case."

Multiple agencies were sending agents to the mall to help with the investigation and search for the suspect, including the FBI.

"FBI Sacramento is aware of the shooting incident that occurred at a business on Gateway Boulevard in Fairfield, California, and we are deploying our Evidence Response Team to assist the Fairfield Police Department," the

The shooting at the Fairfield Spirit Halloween store follows hours after a man was fatally shot in a Michigan store.

The unidentified 21-year-old was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at the store in Madison Heights just after 2 p.m., according to the Madison Heights Police Department.

Another 21-year-old, suspected in the killing, was attacked by bystanders and taken to the hospital while in police custody.