Wisconsin police are searching for a teenage suspect in the fatal shooting of a man at a mall in Grand Chute on Sunday.
Authorities said Dezman V. Ellis, 17, is believed to have been riding in a car found parked in Oshkosh, about a half-hour drive from the scene of the shooting. Four people “became physically combative” with local officers who showed up at the residence where the car was parked, according to police. They were arrested Monday on suspicion of disorderly conduct and resisting police.
Police said one person died and that another was injured as a result of the shooting at the mall. Police identified the victim who died as 19-year-old Jovanni J. Frausto. The injured victim was treated for minor injuries and was released from the hospital.
PRESS RELEASE – G21001999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 31, 2021
Type of call: Shooting pic.twitter.com/zbCcNCDGwF— Grand Chute Police Department (@GrandChutePD) February 1, 2021
“This incident was a targeted event and not just a random act of violence,” Travis Waas, public information officer for Grand Chute Police, told the Appleton Post-Crescent.
Police arrived at the Fox River Mall around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday after receiving reports of shots being fired inside near the food court. Waas said the shooter fled the scene before police came. Several shoppers fled the mall once officers arrived.
Lindsay Kahn, a spokeswoman for mall owner Brookfield Properties, which oversees the mall, said stores will reopen on Tuesday with an enhanced police presence. The company is also bringing in grief counselors for mall employees.
“It is just incredibly sad and very upsetting and disheartening and horrible that this kind of isolated incident took place at our center,” Kahn said.
Tanya Frausto, the mother of the man who died, created a GoFundMe page with a goal to raise $15,000 for funeral expenses. Donations have exceeded $12,000.
“I am a single mother of 4,” Frausto wrote on the page. “My son was senselessly murdered on January 31st, 2021 at the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. I need funds to help pay for funeral expenses as I never expected to have to bury my 19-year-old son to gun violence.”
Police said Ellis, who remains at large, is considered armed and dangerous and that anyone who comes into contact with him should not approach him and should call law enforcement immediately.
