SAN FRANCISCO—Authorities are searching for a teenage girl they suspect unleashed a chemical spray inside a San Francisco shopping mall on March 27. The chemicals left customers coughing and rubbing their eyes, and required three people to be treated a local hospital.
The girl, who looked between 15 and 17 years old, walked into a store at the Stonestown Galleria Mall shortly after 8 p.m., took out a canister, sprayed an orange mist into the air, then ran off, police indicated.
Sixteen people inside the mall on the 3200 block of 20th Avenue were treated for coughing and eye irritation, none of the injuries were reported as life-threatening.
Authorities indicated that the female suspect ran out of the store with a group of other juveniles. Several stores inside the mall were shut down in response to the incident, but the mall was not evacuated. Police have not disclosed what chemical was used in the incident and have not yet made any arrests in the case.
