Police have shared photos of an on-the-run suspect in a ‘targeted’ Florida mall shooting that left one man dead and a woman injured yesterday. 

Authorities responded to calls reporting an ‘active shooter’ at the Paddock Mall in Ocala, located 80 miles northwest of Orlando, around 3.40 pm Saturday. 

One man was shot multiple times – including in the head – and pronounced dead at the scene. A woman, who was shot in the leg, was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.

Police have now released photos of a person of interest in the shooting – a black man wearing all black, with white sneakers and a red cap. 

At a press conference on Saturday evening, police said they believed it was a ‘targeted act’ and that the man who died was the intended victim. 

Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken said: ‘Officers immediately made entry into the mall and ultimately discovered this was not an active shooter situation.’ 

‘One adult male was found deceased in a common area, and one woman was taken to the hospital and is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries,’ authorities said. 

The suspect ‘fled the mall being undetected’ after the shooting, leaving behind the gun, and remains at large.

‘We believe the shooter fled the area and is at large. We also believe this shooting may have been targeted,’ Balken said.

Officers locked down the mall for twelve hours and did a sweep of the building, but did not find the shooter.  

Sharing the new photos of the suspect, officials offered a $3,000 reward in exchange for any information leading to an arrest. 

A helicopter could be seen scouring the area in the immediate aftermath as officers looked for the suspect. 

The shooting left holiday shoppers fleeing in panic over the sounds of gunshots. 

Syriah Williams, 18, was shopping with her mother at the mall at the time. 

She told CNN: ‘We heard one shot then a pause then three other shots rang out and chaos erupted.’

She said mall employees opened the back storage area and instructed everyone to run.

As well as the two direct victims, several other shoppers suffered injuries during the shooting, with one person having chest pain and another reporting a broken arm, police said. 

Police recovered a gun believed to have been used by the shooter but did not specify the firearm type. 

They also identified the man who died as 40-year-old David Nathaniel Barron. 

It is still unclear how the victim and the suspect knew one another or if and how the female victim is involved. 

‘We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and we are committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice,’ authorities said. 

They added the shooting is ‘the worst thing we can imagine this time of the year.’

Balken said there were ‘a lot of people inside the mall’ at the time of the shooting. 

‘Which means there’s a lot of witnesses that could potentially help us bring this case to a successful resolution,’ he added.

The mall remained closed as of Saturday night, according to the police department, but the parking lot reopened for people to retrieve their vehicles.