Emeryville police investigating shooting in Target parking lot

EMERYVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- A busy night of holiday shopping was abruptly halted after a shooting outside Target in Emeryville when a shooting erupted in the parking lot.

Two men are now in the hospital and another is in police custody. Officers walked around the property looking for any evidence from the shooting, which happened around 6 p.m. The number of bullet holes found on at least two vehicles shows that several shots were fired.

"There were a lot of shoppers in the area, a lot of cars in the parking lot and people so it was quite a hectic scene for a while until we got it under control," said Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada.

Officers say two people were shot. Both are now in critical condition. One managed to walk to Home Depot where he was picked up by an ambulance. A third person who was involved in the incident was not injured. Officers found him walking a block away where they took him into custody.

Police are trying to determine what led up to the shooting, but they say it appears none of them had been shopping.

"It appears they came here, parked and some incident ensued where two people received gunshot wounds and one person has been detained," said Tejada.

Target remained closed for the rest of the night. Nearby shoppers we talked with were surprised to hear what had happened.

"It's the Christmas spirit so we're all coming out to do shopping, so it's quite worrying when you see the shootings happening here," said Perry Okoto of Oakland.

"It doesn't match what I think of this area, you know what should be going on here. It just seems like out of place," said Dan Burton of Oakland.

Emeryville Police recovered three guns from the incident. They say shootings in and around Target are rare.