ALBANY COUNTY— A 17-year-old girl was shot in the hand in a Crossgates Mall parking lot on April 10, 2022.

On Feb. 24, two years and 10 months later, she filed suit against Crossgates Mall in Albany County Supreme Court.

The suit claims Crossgates Mall Company was negligent “by failing to adequately warn Mackenzie Barnes of the dangerous and hazardous condition, behavior and conduct, a public and private nuisance, and recurrent behavior of its tenants, visitors, patrons, and travelers within defendant’s premises.”

The gunfire took place near Best Buy and Guilderland Police reported at the time that the suspects had fled the scene before police arrived, and the girl was taken to Albany Medical Center with a wound that was not life-threatening.

Two Schenectady juveniles — a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl — were arrested by Guilderland Police in May 2022 in connection with the shooting.

Police said the boy on April 10, 2022 had fired several rounds from a semiautomatic handgun at a group in the mall parking lot while the arrested girl drove the boy and two other people out of the parking lot after the shooting. The injured 17-year-old girl, police said, had been uninvolved.

The Schenectady boy was charged with three felonies: first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree assault, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The Schenectady girl was charged with second-degree hindering prosecution, a felony.

The suit filed this week by John K. Wright of the John Wright Law Firm of Rochester, New York says, “On or about April 10, 2022, the gun shot originated from patrons, visitors, guests etc on or near the defendant’s premises.”

The suit says Barnes “has suffered economic and noneconomic damages in an amount which exceeds the monetary jurisdictional limit of all lower New York State Courts.”

The Civil Court has monetary jurisdiction up to $50,000, according to the New York State Unified Court System.

Crossgates Mall could not immediately be reached for comment nor did Wright respond to Enterprise inquiry.

Mall crime

Crossgates mall is Guilderland’s largest shopping and entertainment venue and, located just off the Northway, draws visitors regionally.

Guilderland Police Chief Daniel McNally had told The Enterprise earlier, in relation to needing more officers, that, although Guilderland’s population is roughly 36,000, “Our population at night is well over 100,000 with the mall, SUNY Albany, and things going on in our town ….”

In 2021, a committee in town working on a police reform plan assembled data on Crossgates arrests alone.

In 2017, the mall accounted for 29 percent of the arrests in town, at 305. In 2018, Crossgates accounted for 38 percent of 288 arrests. In 2019, fifty-three percent of 540 arrests in Guilderland were at Crossgates Mall. In 2020, with the pandemic shutdown, 283 Crossgates arrests were made.

An annual report for the Guilderland Police, for 2021, showed nearly half of the 486 arrests made by Guilderland Police in 2021 — that is, 225 arrests — were made at Crossgates Mall.

Most of the arrests are for shoplifting. “The majority of arrests are not police-officer initiated,” McNally told The Enterprise earlier. Rather, he said, the stores at the mall call on the police to make arrests when they suspect someone of shoplifting or causing disturbances.

Guilderland Police have a substation at the mall, which mostly handles the shoplifting arrests.

Shooting incidents

For the better part of a decade, Crossgates Mall has been the scene of sporadic violence, including stabbings and brawls with a handful of incidents involving gunfire.

In addition to the shooting in April 2022 that injured Barnes’s hand, there were two other shooting incidents that year.

In October 2022, two suspects, each with a loaded handgun, were charged in two separate incidents at the mall. On Saturday night, Oct. 15, an unnamed 17-year-old had a loaded handgun, a defaced 9mm semi-automatic Taurus, outside the mall. The juvenile was charged with both second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, arraigned in Albany County Youth Part Court, and released to a parent.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 18, 2022, James F. Lunday IV, 19, of Watervliet, while at Dick’s Sporting Goods, had a loaded Springfield XDS 9mm, a semi-automatic handgun. He was charged with two felonies: second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a weapon in a restricted location. He was arraigned in Guilderland Town Court and released to the supervision of probation.

On July 22, 2020, the mall was briefly shut down after reports of shots being fired near the Foot Locker on the lower level of the mall. No one was injured.

Police agencies from across the Capital Region converged in Guilderland to assist. The exits and entrances to the mall were blocked off and police officers with high-caliber rifles stood watch at the doors. Other police gathered, with a command center, set up in the nearby Walmart parking lot.

The incident “appears to have been between known acquaintances,” said a statement at the time from Pyramid, which manages the mall. “The altercation resulted in the discharge of a firearm inside our facility … Crossgates immediately went into lockdown,” Pyramid said.

On Aug. 26, 2020, Guilderland Police arrested a 15-year-old juvenile male in connection with the Crossgates shooting on July 22. His name also was not released because of his age.

He was charged in Albany County Family Court with first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony, and with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor. He was also arrested on an outstanding Albany County Family Court warrant.

In November 2016, a gun was fired in Crossgates Mall, causing panicked shoppers to flee and resulting in a lockdown while police searched the premises. Tasheem Maeweather was acquitted of several charges including possessing a firearm, in the incident, but convicted of reckless endangerment. The prosecution in the case said the shooting was gang-related.

Escort policy

Two months ago, Crossgates Mall adopted a new parental escort policy, requiring anyone younger than 18 to be escorted by an adult guardian after 2 p.m.

The mall announced the policy change on social media on Dec. 27, four days after the latest brawl.

Crossgates adopted its initial escort policy in 2005 for evening hours.

The current policy, posted to the mall’s website, says “during daily designated hours (2:00pm to close), guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or adult 21 years or older. All guests should be prepared to show valid identification (with picture and date of birth) such as a driver’s license, state identification card, military ID, passport or visa.”

It adds that the policy does not apply to stores, restaurants, or venues with exterior entrances.

Further, it says that Regal Cinemas has also updated its parental escort policy at Crossgates. Anyone 16 and under will not be permitted at any film that starts at 6 p.m. or later if they are not accompanied by an adult.

The mall also has a policy banning weapons except those used by law enforcement.