Palo Alto Drive-By Shooting Suspect Remains At Large: Cops

PALO ALTO, CA — The suspects in Monday’s drive-by shooting outside an upscale Peninsula shopping center remain at-large, Palo Alto police said.

The Stanford Shopping Center shooting was reported to authorities at around 4:25 p.m. by a Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse employee who said the exterior of the restaurant was struck by a gunfire, police said.

Police determined at least one additional shot was fired at an unoccupied parked car.

The 100 block of El Camino Real was closed in both directions Monday night amid the investigation.

No injuries were reported, and the shopping center was never under lockdown, police said.

Officers responded to the restaurant to find a large plate glass window near the front door had been struck by gunfire, police said.

The restaurant was open for business at the time, and customers were inside.

The suspect vehicle is described by a witness as a black Chevrolet Camaro that was seen traveling northbound on El Camino Real in front of the restaurant, police said.

The witness told police they saw the gunman extend a firearm out the driver’s window the vehicle, but they could not describe the suspect, police said.

An initial report given to the police said that someone may have been seen inside the mall with a holster after the shots were fired, though no one reported seeing a gun pointed or displayed.

“Initial info indicates the suspect fired a handgun from a moving vehicle. The motive and intended target are unknown at this point.”

Well after the shooting occurred, police received a second-hand report that someone inside the shopping center had thought they had seen a person wearing a holster on their belt.

The report did not include information that they had also seen a firearm, but officers searched the mall as a precaution.

“The on-scene police supervisors did not order a lockdown of the shopping center, based on the credible witness who had reported seeing the suspect flee the scene contemporaneously to the shooting,” police said.

No additional information was immediately available.