KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police are investigating a fatal shooting Sunday at the Ward Parkway Shopping Center at 86th Street and Ward Parkway.

Police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sanders said three people were killed, including the gunman. Two other people were injured.

"It's one big crime scene," Sanders said.

Sanders said the shooting did not start at the mall. He said events started with the death investigation of an older woman in the 3700 block of East 93rd Street. It was at that point, detectives discovered the woman's car was missing. Detectives put out a description of the missing car.

At 3:11 p.m., authorities said a police officer pulled over a car matching the description of the missing car in the 1311 block of Bannister Road. Sanders said the officer was in the process of arresting the man when the driver pulled out a handgun and shot the officer in the arm. The driver then took off, Sanders said.

The officer notified authorities with a description of the gunman and the car he was in. At about 3:27 p.m., shots were reported at Ward Parkway Shopping Center.

"We got information here at 8500 State Line that there was a man who had come into the shopping center with a long gun. He came into the center in the area of the Target store. The Target employees, and of course, the mall was crowded with hundreds of people, everybody was leaving the mall when officers ran inside. They confronted the man and after confronting him shot and killed him," Sanders said.

"It sounded like firecrackers at first," said Cassie Bradshaw, 19, of Kansas City, who was at her first day of work at the Target.

She said she was in a break room with two other people when they heard shots. She said co-workers saw a white man in his 50s with a rifle.

Investigators said when the gunman first arrived at the mall, he pulled into a parking space on the west side and shot two people on either side of his car. Those people died at the scene. Their names have not been released.

Shoppers Flee In Terror

Witnesses told KMBC's Marcus Moore that it was an "absolutely terrifying" experience. The shooter apparently started shooting in another part of the mall, then went to the Target store and continued shooting, Moore reported. People fled from the store and started hiding in the aisles, he said.

"We were buying some shoes, and then we heard some commotion, some people yelling and screaming, then kind of looked around and tried to figure out what was going on, and we saw some people just running. And we were like, 'What's going on?' Then I talked to a lady and she said, 'I think I heard someone say shots in the mall or something.' So then we started to move, and we're going toward the front door of the entrance and we heard, 'Pop, pop, pop,' just as we're leaving the entrance. We kind of ducked and went out. Then my son said he saw a man come right out after that with blood on his face," witness David Cox said.

Queea Miller and her teenage daughter told KMBC's Lara Moritz that they had just pulled into a parking spot when they heard gunshots.

"I told her, 'Lay your seat back. Just lay your seat back. Don't move.' I thought, 'Please, don't let this man shoot.' It looked like he was just random shooting," Miller said.

One woman told told KMBC's Chris Nagus that she was in one of the movie theaters at the mall when officers came running in and told everyone to evacuate.

Dozens of witnesses were taken to Metro buses to be questioned about the incident.