A 14-year-old boy faces misdemeanor falsely reporting charge
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
GUILDERLAND — A 14-year-old boy from Albany was behind the 911 call Friday that sent police officers and a helicopter to Crossgates Mall afternoon in response to false reports of a shooting, Guilderland police said Saturday.
Police initially responded at 12:34 p.m. Friday after a caller said two people had been shot in the Macy’s parking lot on the north side of the mall, according to a news release. The caller said the suspect fled into a nearby wooded area. A helicopter circled the mall as multiple police agencies arrived. Parking was closed in the area, and the nearby Westmere Elementary School was placed on a temporary lockout, police said.
But the call was quickly determined to be false, and a suspect was taken into custody, police said. The 14-year-old was charged with falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor. Police are not releasing his name due to his age. He was released into the custody of a relative and referred to the Albany County Probation Department, police said.
The mall has been the scene of gunfire in the past. Two teens were charged with opening fire in a parking lot and injuring a bystander in 2022 and an Albany man was convicted of firing a gun inside Crossgates in 2016.
Read the full article here