ALBANY, N.Y. June 14 2013 AP— A midlevel New York court has rejected lawsuits by shooting victims who claimed an upstate shopping mall didn't provide sufficient security to protect them from a man's nine-minute shooting rampage with a semi-automatic rifle.
The Appellate Division panel upheld dismissal of negligence claims against The Pyramid Companies and others, concluding the 2005 attack by Robert Bonelli Jr. was unforeseeable. He opened fire and injured two people in the Hudson Valley Mall in Ulster, 55 miles south of Albany.
The justices say landowners have a duty to secure their premises from foreseeable harm, but the mall's history involved lesser incidents of larceny, disorderly conduct, trespassing, robbery and fights.
Justice Karen Peters, writing separately, agrees but notes mall security that day, with one guard, was "frighteningly inadequate."
Bonelli is serving a 32-year prison sentence.
The Appellate Division panel upheld dismissal of negligence claims against The Pyramid Companies and others, concluding the 2005 attack by Robert Bonelli Jr. was unforeseeable. He opened fire and injured two people in the Hudson Valley Mall in Ulster, 55 miles south of Albany.
The justices say landowners have a duty to secure their premises from foreseeable harm, but the mall's history involved lesser incidents of larceny, disorderly conduct, trespassing, robbery and fights.
Justice Karen Peters, writing separately, agrees but notes mall security that day, with one guard, was "frighteningly inadequate."
Bonelli is serving a 32-year prison sentence.