Anthony Meredith shot at Peachtree Mall while Easter shopping

The mother of Anthony Meredith said her son was shopping for Easter clothes for his three-year-old daughter when he was shot to death at Peachtree Mall Saturday evening.

“He was a very caring father,” Shalina Meredith said, Sunday.

As she spoke to the Ledger-Enquirer about her son, she was visiting the grave of a daughter Brittany Meredith, who died in December 2012 from injuries suffered in a car crash.

“This is all very hard on me,” said Meredith who has a 16-year-old son Jaylen Ridley. She said it was he who told her about her about the mall shooting.

She heard Anthony Meredith had an exchange of words with someone at the mall.

The mother, a Columbus accountant, said the victim was a graduate of Hardaway High School and the University of Phoenix. He attended Revelation Missionary Baptist Church.

He was currently out of a job after working with an uncle’s painting service.

“He was just an average young man. I don’t know why someone would do this,” she said.

According to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan, Meredith was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds at 8:06 p.m. at Midtown Medical Center.

A police report said it was at approximately 7:28 p.m. that officers responded to a call about a shooting at the mall at 3131 Manchester Expressway. Meredith was found at the southwest entrance of the mall.

Jonathan Evans, 42, of Columbus told the Ledger-Enquirer he was in Macy’s shopping with his wife when he heard a commotion at the store and a woman told him a shooting had occurred. He said there was a lot of confusion and people running.

Evans left the store through a side door on the west side. “Once we go to the front, we noticed a gentleman laying at entrance of the mall. He had been shot,” he said.

The shooting is the third report of gunfire at the shopping mall in a little more than a month.

A 16-year-old girl was shot in the back March 4 in an apparent dispute.

Police also investigated an apparent gunshot fired into the floor a week before. Police believe a gun discharged in the pocket of a shopper.

Mall security said all information about the incident will have to come from Columbus police. Peachtree Mall is owned and operated by General Growth Properties with headquarters in Chicago, Ill.

Police said Sunday that no information is being released and the case is under investigation.

Sunday morning, Andre Lloyd, 21, of Columbus was at the U.S. Army Recruiting Office near Peachtree Mall. He is entering the Army.

“It is a nice mall. I hope this does not tarnish its reputation,” Lloyd said.

He said he would be not afraid to shop there but to make people feel safe, perhaps, the mall should have metal detectors.

“That way you could identify someone who has a gun ahead of time,” he said.

Simone Johnson, 19, is a Columbus State University student who shops at Peachtree Mall.

“It’s not just the mall. I feel like we are not safe anywhere. We always have to be on the lookout,” she said.

She would like to see the mall have more security guards and those on duty should have the safety of shoppers as their main concern.

This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Anthony Meredith shot at Peachtree Mall while Easter shopping."