LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — A juvenile is in the hospital after a shooting at the Acadiana Mall Thursday afternoon. Lafayette police say it was an accident, after discovering the shooter’s wound was self-inflicted.

Bystanders who were shopping nearby say officers flooded the scene quickly, and they weren’t sure what was happening at first.

“I don’t know. I just walked out, saw all the cop cars. I saw that it was taped in, and that right there told me it was something serious. It wasn’t just shoplifting,” Ray Landry said.

Police were called to the mall just after 1 p.m.

When officers arrived to the scene, officials say they found one juvenile suffering from a gunshot in the parking lot near the food court entrance.

Police tell News 10 he’d been shot in his lower extremity.

“A couple of people were talking, and I heard that it was a child involved in the shooting, an accidental shooting,” Landry said.

Lafayette police say there were three juveniles either near or inside a vehicle in the parking lot of the mall.

One of the juveniles was handling a gun. Authorities say the gun discharged, and he accidentally shot himself.

The juvenile was taken to the hospital for a gunshot wound. No one else was injured.

The juvenile is now in stable condition.