Man fires some 50 shots at Calif. mall parking lot

Updated 11:53 PM ET

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. A man was arrested Saturday after firing about 50 shots in the parking lot of a Southern California shopping mall, forcing a lockdown of stores crowded with holiday shoppers.

Marcos Gurrola, 42, of Garden Grove was taken into custody by bicycle police officers patrolling around the open-air Fashion Island mall around 4:30 p.m., police spokeswoman Cathy Lowe said. She said he fired into the air and onto the ground in the parking lot near a Macy's department store.

No one was injured, but the gunfire caused panic, coming just a day after a gunman killed 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school, and days after a deadly mall shooting in Oregon. Some of the shoppers in California on Saturday said they ran, screaming as they looked for a safe shelter.

The mall was crowded with holiday shoppers.

Lowe says some stores voluntarily closed their doors and kept shoppers inside while police investigated.

Bret McGaughey, 22, of Laguna Beach, said he was with his mom in the Apple store at the upscale mall when shoppers ran to the rear of the store as employees locked the front entrance. He estimated that up to 100 people stayed in the back of the store for about 30 minutes until Apple employees announced that police said it was safe to reopen the doors.

"This is a pretty ritzy suburb in Orange County," McGaughey said. "It's certainly something you wouldn't expect here."

Gurrola was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, Lowe said.

There was no telephone listing for Gurrola.

On Tuesday, a gunman at an Oregon shopping mall killed two people and wounded a third amid a holiday crowd estimated at 10,000 people.

Clackamas County authorities are still trying to determine why the gunman opened fire before killing himself.

The suburban Portland mall was closed for two days before reopening on Friday.

[Brineweep]

This is the ONLY country where this happens again, and again, and again. Seriously? It's time to stop the excuses. Regulate guns, NOW.

[Tiratorey]

You do realize that this won't change a thing, right? Guns are not available in China, but yet people still do this all the time. The only way we're going to be able to stop this, is to stop making the damn people who do it look like celebrities on TV and radio.

[aglynch1909]

Guns are regulated enough. What we need is to stop glorifying the people who do the crimes. We need to inform the public of what is happening, but not name any of the criminals. These low life losers just want to make their name known. If we eliminate the names of these criminals, the low lives who think that these behaviors are good ideas, will have no reason to do it. They just want to make themselves known. Plus, its not as if criminals wont get the guns they want anyways. We make drugs illegal, but the illegal drug industry is still a multi-billion doller market. The only thing taking guns away from people would do is limit the amount of protection we have for ourselves. How are we supposed to protect ourselves if someone breaks into our homes with guns?

[tryhonesty]

Hey CBS and other media, how about reporting on America's Mental Health Hospitals, Mental Health Care. Do they exists? You rarely see or read anything about this topic. America's head in the sand???

[tb91006]

No story here just another drunk illegal having a little fun..

[matt6052]

He only fires shots into the air and ground, and did not even point the weapon at anyone. How does that make it home page news?

They don't even report it when they shut down flight operations and re-screen an entire airport terminal. There is no reason to report about a shooting that didn't happen.

[mcclainjon]

Didn't he read the "gun free zone" sign? Could it be that criminals will ignore gun laws? How did he have fifty rounds, California restricts magazines to 10? Surely he didnt have banned magazines, or five legal ones. Good thing any law abiding Californian would have only had ten shots to stop the guy with fifty.

[bobnjersey]

[Could it be that criminals will ignore gun laws?]
----------------------------------------
seems like everyone shooting the guns are not criminals until they point them at someone else and pull the trigger ... which makes them the criminal.

[kuffodog]

Immortality of soul is entirely extraneous to physicality or temporal constraints. Being purely informational the human individual entity during it's habitation with a physical body is but a flash of light in an ocean of space time, a flicker in a vast and uncomprehensibly populous Universe. The entity you invoke transcends both time and space. You and the kids that died comprise it, albeit in a minute, minuscule way. Humanity as a whole, functions to develop said entity to a level where it will change past events - retract human beings informationally from the past and aggregate them in coherent and amicably cooperative collective (heaven). Whether men understand the process or believe in the truth values of predictive prophetic injection (in the past and present) through said entity's future/past/contemporary presence: is of no importance. What is of major importance is that the process succeeds, and comes to its evolutionary conclusion.

Translation: if you believe in God, and can't deal with mortality of men... why in the world would you question the morality of actions of an entity that you hold to be capable of resurrection?

Here's an idea: Americans have free will. USE IT. God isn't there to serve you. You're to serve God. Reflect on your actions and sins... before you question lack of intervention.

Here's the brutal truth: arithmetic. These kids died so that you can awaken. So the nation can awaken... and make the right choice. You can save 10,000 as many every year from now on if you decide to make an adjustment.

You still have a free choice you see. You can keep slaughtering each other like animals... or stop.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

There is some evidence of a second Higgs boson in the data from the Large Hadron Collider. It probably won't be clarified until March of next year when there will be another report from CERN about what they found. This story is related to this mall nut firing 50 rounds into the air, because...well it's not, but neither was the comment I'm replying to.

[ugacrew]

Extremely intriguing commentary. I would absolutely love to read one of your books and I have no doubt you are of extreme philosophical brilliance. I understand much of what you say, and would love to read more. Can you please come back and post a link that will provide more of your writings?

You are absolutely correct to focus on our "freedom" of choice. What I can't help but reflect on, myself, is how much the nation is grieving over the loss of these beautiful children because of their "innocense," and I grieve as well be sure, BUT why is it that we absolutely fail to comprehend the same "innoncense" of those babies we legally abort daily by the millions in this country.

What difference to we use to justify one being acceptable over another being heinous?

[TabithaBliss]

All the coppycat sickos are coming out now. Sad, sad society.

[johnlockesghost]

They should be shot on sight,not taken into custody. Make that the tule and the number of perpetrators will diminish considerably.

[Sax1031]

give them more media attention. that will stop the crazies

[Mr-Drivel]

so true

[mergaman]

Dear God I can't understand
Why in our great land
Did you not protect your little lambs
With the power of your outstretched hands

Adam went into that elementary school
He acted as the devil's tool
He broke the golden rule
God why have you forsaken them

The shooter made a lot of people cry
With no one knowing the reason why
The score of children two times ten
Why did there lives have to end

Life comes and goes in many ways
Why Dear God did they have to go on this day
Why God have you forsaken them
Dear God we love you so
I wrote today a Ballard of the tragedy in Connecticut, it's title is THE BALLARD OF THE Connecticut Tragedy

[TabithaBliss]

Dear God,
Why do you allow so much violence in our schools?
Signed,
a concerned student

Dear Concerned Student,
I'm not allowed in schools.
-God

[water59]

Do we not recall what Jesus said that in the last day's there would be dangerous time,s remember in the book of (Revelation) what John said please read (Rev6:4,5) it say that the 2 horse was given power to take peace from the earth and man would kill one another please if you really want to know what is really going on read (Revelation).