KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A customer opened fire in a crowded shopping mall Wednesday afternoon, killing a clothing store employee before he was shot and wounded by police officers, authorities said. Witnesses said the gunfire sent people "stampeding" for cover.

The employee was shot multiple times around 4:20 p.m. after a confrontation with the suspect at Knoxville Center Mall, police spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. The store employee, 29-year-old Ahmed Nahl, died at the scene.

Two Knoxville Police Department officers confronted the customer as he left Reno Menswear store and exchanged gunfire, DeBusk said. No one else was hurt.

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