Patrons of the Beachwood Place Mall were thrown into a whirlwind of terror on March 17, when a robbery and shooting took place in the parking lot of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Today, prosecutors have approached a grand jury with eight charges against Jamallee McKinley Jr. including aggravated robbery, felonious assault and weapons charges. According to court records, the prosecution is urging the judge to order McKinley to relinquish a .45-caliber Glock pistol and more than $8,500 in cash seized from his arrest.
McKinley also faces a separate charge for possessing a gun as a convicted felon from previous charges of drug possession and trafficking convictions.
According to the Beachwood police report, McKinley and another man drove a rental van to the valet parking line and had an altercation. McKinley's gun went off three times and struck the other man in the knee. What caused the altercation is unknown to the public, as is the source of the $8,500 confiscated upon arrest.
Cleveland makeup artist Angie Franklin was working at MAC next to the Saks Fifth Avenue when the shooting occurred.
"It was such a scary experience, I saw a crowd of people yelling and running into the mall toward our store," she tells
Scene. "My coworkers and I rushed to the stockroom with our customers waiting for instructions from the police, it was terrifying."
This incident is unrelated to the second shooting less than a half hour later when Brandon Wood accidentally fired his gun inside the mall after attempting to obtain his car keys. A piece of shrapnel struck a 17-year-old-girl in the leg. Wood pleaded not guilty to his charges of inducing panic.
"That second shot was what really scared us because we thought someone was in custody already," says Franklin. "It's so wild to find out the second shot was unrelated to the first."
McKinley is set for a June 4 arraignment hearing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
