A Halloween shopping trip turned into a deadly nightmare Friday night when a gunman opened fire inside a California costume store, killing a pregnant mother of four and wounding six others, including a teenager, just hours before Halloween.
The terrifying shooting erupted around 8:30 p.m. on October 30 inside a Spirit Halloween store at Solano Town Center in Fairfield, about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco. Shoppers scrambled for safety as gunfire rang out, sending terrified witnesses fleeing through the mall while police rushed to the scene.
Authorities identified the woman killed as 31-year-old Constance Hages, whose family confirmed she was pregnant. She died at the scene, leaving behind four children and a grieving family as investigators searched for the person responsible.
Six males were also shot, with four suffering critical injuries. Police said a 16-year-old boy and two men, ages 19 and 32, remained in critical condition, while a 23-year-old man was listed in critical but stable condition. Two additional victims, ages 19 and 43, were treated and released from the hospital.
Witnesses described frightening scenes as the violence unfolded inside the busy shopping center. One woman whose husband spoke to NBC Bay Area reportedly called him in tears, desperately asking him to pick her up after seeing customers ducking for cover and crawling toward an exit.
The panic spread beyond the costume store. Caitlin Fry, who was watching a horror movie with her husband at the mall’s theater, told CBS Sacramento that an armed SWAT officer suddenly entered the screening room looking for the shooter.
The officer reportedly asked whether anyone carrying a gun had entered the theater before rushing away to continue the search.
Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall initially described the store as the center of the shooting, and investigators later announced that preliminary evidence suggested the violence was a targeted attack involving a single suspect.
However, authorities have not revealed who the intended target may have been or what prompted the gunfire. No arrest had been announced as of Saturday, October 31.
Detectives were examining surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses, with assistance from the FBI’s Sacramento office. Police said they did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the public, although residents were urged to remain alert during Halloween celebrations.
Spirit Halloween expressed its condolences to the victims’ families and confirmed that the Fairfield location would remain closed while the investigation continued. The shopping center also canceled its planned Halloween trick-or-treating event, although the rest of the mall reopened Saturday.
The tragedy has left the community shaken, particularly as families grapple with the death of a pregnant mother and the serious injuries suffered by several other victims. What should have been a festive Halloween weekend instead became the scene of a deadly attack that authorities are still working to explain.
Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact the Fairfield Police Department at 707-428-7600.
