CONCORD, N.C. — There is a renewed push to add a curfew at the Concord Mills Mall after a shooting Saturday night that killed an innocent 13-year-old girl, Avenanna Propst.
A fight in the mall led to the shooting outside of Dave and Buster’s. Two others were shot in the parking lot, as well, but they are expected to recover. Police said the three shooting victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Authorities located and arrested Dontae Milton-Black, 18, and charged him with murder, however, hundreds of people in the community are demanding mall officials to make it a safer place.
A woman who used to work in the mall left because of the violence and said something needs to change.
“No parent wants to drop their kid off and think, ‘OK, will they be here when I go to pick them up whenever I come back?’” Stefanie Rossi said.
“A parent would love to think that their child is safe,” Sally Coleman from Mothers of Murdered Offspring said. “But, now there’s no safe haven anymore. Not in the homes, in the malls, in the church. Violence in just too acceptable now.”
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Shoppers started pushing for a curfew with a change.org petition in 2017 after fights in the mall led to a shots-fired call, prompting a large police response.
“That happened because of a shooting that happened at the mall between kids that were under 18,” Rossi said. “They thought it was a shooting.”
Officials found no evidence of shots fired or anyone hurt, but two minors were arrested for fighting in public.
“Hopefully, this is a wake-up call, and they do the curfew,” Rossi said.
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There were 9,000 people who signed the petition after the incident in 2017.
The petition is circulating again with about 700 new signatures since the deadly shooting.
“No one wants to come down here and worry about something happening like this,” Rossi said.
Malls in our area that have curfews are Eastridge, SouthPark and Northlake malls, and the policies require anyone under 18 to be accompanied by an adult after a certain time on Fridays and Saturdays.
Carolina Place and Monroe Crossing do not have curfews.
A funeral for Avenanna is scheduled for Saturday at Barber Scotia College in Concord.
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