4 hospitalized after shooting at Alabama shopping mall

A shooting at an Alabama shopping mall left at least four people hospitalized Friday afternoon, police said.

Multiple shots were reported near the food court inside the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Police Capt. Gregg Rector said in a news release. He said the victims have been transported to area hospitals for treatment. "Their conditions are unknown at this time," authorities said.

"We don't know at this point what led to the shooting or how many gunmen were involved," Rector added.

Authorities did not say whether anyone had been arrested.

The mall has been evacuated "and the scene is secure," police said.

The mall in suburban Birmingham was the site of a 2018 police shooting where an officer fatally shot a Black man with a gun after mistaking him for the gunman in an earlier shooting at the mall.

The shooting of 21-year-old Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr. prompted a series of protests at the mall. The Alabama attorney general's office cleared the officer, saying he acted "reasonably under the circumstances" in the encounter that spanned approximately five seconds.