Shooting Death At Coralville Mall Marks 5th Tragedy in 10 Weeks

Friday night, the unthinkable happened at the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, as a security guard left the mall, and returned with a gun, then opened fire on 20 yr old girl, shooting her multiple times and killing her. The incident is yet another sad event in what is becoming an increasingly tragic past couple of months.

Last year, the big story was the unusually large string of bank robberies that went unsolved for most of the summer. Any attempts this year have been solved in hours. But since the beginning of April, it has become almost common place now to hear of heartbreaking tragedies. Back on April 9th, a crash killed 5 kids near Urbana. A few weeks later, a woman was stabbed to death in the Marion HyVee parking lot. And now, in just the last few days, an Amber Alert ended tragically with a burned out car in Missouri, and 3 members of a Cedar Falls family died in a car accident while on vacation. And now this.

Friday night, a security guard left the mall heading to his North Liberty home. There he retrieved a handgun, and returned to the mall around 7:30, walked up to 20 year old Andrea Farrington at the Iowa Children's Museum kiosk near the carousel, and fired 3 shots. An officer in the mall responded immediately, as mall attendants scattered for the exits. Shortly after, the mall was placed on lock down, and remained closed for the rest of the night and all day Saturday. The suspect was stopped near Walcott at 8:23, and was taken into custody without incident at about exactly an hour after the shooting. The suspect was known by sight and name by local officers who had talked to him previously during his time working security at the mall.

While some of the anchor stores were open for business Saturday, the mall as a whole did not re-open until after 11am Sunday. This was following a memorial service and vigil for Andrea from 9:30a till 10am Sunday morning at the Children's Museum, where Andrea worked in a job she loved, reportedly caring for Peter the turtle. The exhibit is to be dedicated to her. More than 100 showed up for the memorial service Sunday, with many in attendance wearing teal, Andrea's favorite color. The museum would remain closed Sunday in her memory according to their facebook page.

When these tragedies occur, the community pulls together to help out. Many of these have gofundme accounts which have been set-up to help the families.

For Andrea Farrington's Family, click here for the GoFundMe

For Melissa Zeimet, the mother of the Amber Alert toddler, click here for the GoFundMe

For Erin Bartlett, wife and mother from Cedar Falls whose family died on vacation, click here for the GoFundMe.

For the family of Lynnsey Donald, who died in the Marion Hyvee Parking lot, click here for the GoFundMe

Victims of the Urbana car crash:

[VIA The Gazette/Iowa City Press Citizen]

Categories: Local News