Brother: Mall gunman Richard Shoop didn’t want to hurt anyone
An official walks with a semi-automatic weapon on the parking lot of Garden State Plaza Mall following reports of a shooter last night in Paramus, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The brother of a man who police say killed himself after firing several shots inside a northern New Jersey mall says he’s not sure what led to his brother’s actions.
Kevin Shoop says his brother, 20-year-old Richard Shoop of Teaneck, acted in a selfish manner.
He says the shooting has left him devastated, and calls his brother a great person who was liked by his friends and family.
Kevin Shoop says Richard didn’t intend to harm anyone but himself. He says his brother didn’t tell him what he planned to do.
Authorities say Richard Shoop fired at the ceiling of the Garden State Plaza in Paramus on Monday night. No one was injured, and police later found Shoop’s body in a back corridor of the mall.
The mall’s website says the shopping center is closed Tuesday, Nov 5. Its Facebook page is telling shoppers that cars can now be retrieved from the parking lot.
The mall is owned by the Westfield Group, which operates 46 other malls in the U.S. The Paramus shopping center is the only Westfield run mall in N.J. The company does not operate malls in Delaware or Pennsylvania, according to its corporate website.
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