TERRIFYING

Arizona Mall Shooter Intended to Target Couples and Identifies as Incel, Prosecutor Says

Armando Hernandez, Jr., 20, allegedly told his third victim that “she was lucky he let her live” while his gun malfunctioned.

A man who was arrested after allegedly shooting three people on Wednesday in Arizona told cops that he intended to “harm 10 people” at the shopping center “because he was bullied and wanted respect,” police said on Thursday. According to Glendale police, Armando Hernandez, Jr., 20, arrived at the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale on Wednesday night and surveyed the area before going back to his car, drinking alcohol and retrieving an assault rifle. He then walked through the center firing shots. A 19-year-old man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, a 16-year-old girl suffered non-life threatening injuries and a 30-year-old woman was not hospitalized, police said.

Maricopa County prosecutors, when introducing the 16 felony charges against Hernandez on Thursday, alleged he identified as an “incel,”—short for involuntarily celibate, an online movement of men who believe women have slighted them and who often promote misogynistic violence. His defense attorney objected to the characterization, but Hernandez himself reportedly said Thursday he planned to shoot couples.

Officials confirmed that Hernandez posted a video to Snapchat during the shooting. According to BuzzFeed News, the video showed the shooter firing at a woman who appeared to be injured on the ground beside a car. Court documents cited by ABC15 said that Hernandez’s gun malfunctioned as he was shooting the third victim and he told her “she was lucky he let her live.”