An 18-year-old man was arrested in connection with a Black Friday shooting at a Sacramento mall that killed two brothers, police announced Monday.
Damario Beck was held for the attack at the Arden Fair Mall that killed 17-year-old Sa’Quan Reed-James and 19-year-old Dewayne James Jr.
The shooting erupted after a “verbal altercation” between two groups of people who knew each other, police tweeted.
Other details weren’t immediately provided.
However, the Sacramento Bee reported that video footage it reviewed Monday showed one person in each group had a handgun and they fired at each other as bystanders ran for their lives.
Beck was booked on two counts of murder and remained jailed. It wasn’t immediately known whether Beck had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
At a news conference, relatives of the slain brothers said the family had moved to Sacramento a year ago from Monroe, Louisiana, in order to find a better life.
“My boys were loved,” said their mother, Jayda James. “They weren’t living a bad life. I have no bad memories. Only good.”
The brothers’ father, Dewayne James Sr., said he had “nothing bad to say” to the suspect but just wished he would have chosen “another route.”
“I forgive you, son … I want your parents to know that I don’t hate you,” he said, adding: “I hate you chose wrong. … Now your parents are suffering and I feel your parents’ pain, just like I’m hurting.”