(CBS/AP)Updated at 5:04 p.m. ET
CHANDLER, Ariz. - Authorities said a man involved in a shootout with police is in custody after holding two hostages inside a Baja Fresh restaurant near a mall in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, CBS News affiliate KPHO-TV in Phoenix reports.
Earlier, a Maricopa County sheriff's sniper confirmed the suspect was holding two hostages in the restaurant after a shootout with police at the mall.
U.S. Marshal David Gonzales said the suspect is 25-year-old Daniel Munoz Perez, wanted in a Dec. 11 shootout with Arizona Department of Public Safety. Perez was inadvertently released from a Pinal County Jail Dec. 17.
We were looking for a fugitive wanted for attempted murder on a police officer, Gonzalez told CNN. They located him today in the Chandler area near the mall.
Law officials were reporting that the hostages were taken after the suspect was involved in a shootout with officers just after noon at the mall.
Sgt. Joe Favazzo of the Chandler Police Department said the mall occupants were being evacuated. No law enforcement personnel were reported injured.
Helicopter video showed police officers with guns drawn crouching in front of a Baja Fresh restaurant at the mall. Chopper audio said more shots might have been fired.
Witness Katie Corbin, who was inside Chandler Fashion Center at the time of the shooting, told KTVK-TV that people went to the back of the Victoria's Secret store after shots were fired. The upscale shopping center includes a Banana Republic, Coach, Nordstrom and other stores.
She said the situation inside the mall was scary.
December Davis, 22, a waitress at the Kona Grill inside the mall, told the AP she and others inside her restaurant were told to drop everything and exit the shopping center. People left without their purses, cell phones and other belongings.
Perez was mistakenly released on $320 bond on Dec. 17. He is accused of shooting at Arizona Department of Public Safety officers Dec. 11 outside a home in Casa Grande.
Calls of shots fired at the mall were heard on emergency scanners Wednesday afternoon. Police officers immediately began setting up a perimeter around the mall.
A Chandler police spokesman said officers were investigating an armed robbery that happened Wednesday morning off the mall grounds. The suspects were spotted near the mall and officers followed and confronted one suspect near a Sears loading dock. The suspect shot at police before running into the mall, the spokesman said.
Perez was injured by gunfire in the Dec. 11 shootout with Arizona officers, admitted to a Phoenix hospital for treatment and held in another county's jail before being turned over to Pinal County.
But the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said it never received the charging paperwork for Perez and he bonded out on the misdemeanor warrant.
