Santa Fe police are looking for a man who shot a teen during an argument Wednesday evening outside the Santa Fe Place mall.

Deputy Chief Aric Wheeler said the gunman got away in a vehicle and that the victim, who is in his late teens, was in critical condition while undergoing surgery at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

The shooting occurred just before 5 p.m. on the mall's north side, outside JC Penney.

Wheeler said he couldn't immediately provide a description of the suspect or his vehicle, and that investigators were interviewing witnesses at the police station. He also couldn't say whether police had a suspect. "I'd love to say, 'Yeah, this is the guy,' but it's still so early in the investigative state," he said.

A JC Penney supervisor who declined to be identified said she saw the victim writhing in pain on the curb before rescuers arrived. He was apparently shot in the stomach, she said. "He just kept saying, 'I don't want to die,' " the supervisor said.

She had the impression the victim would survive and sounded more concerned about a 7- or-8-year-old girl who witnessed the shooting alongside two women who were with her.

The girl couldn't be consoled, the supervisor said. "She was really freaked out because she saw the whole thing. ... She didn't stop crying for about 45 minutes. She was crying hysterically," the supervisor said. "We gave her a little Winnie the Pooh bear and some candy, but she didn't want any of it."

The supervisor said the women and the girl were on their way to their car when the argument between the two men heated up, and they were trying to get out of the way when a single shot was fired.

"All they knew was that they were trying to get away from them," the store supervisor said. "They didn't get all the way into the car."

Wheeler said the victim had scuffled with the shooter and was incoherent when police arrived.

Police still had the shooting scene surrounded in yellow tape Wednesday night.

Contact Doug Mattson at 986-3087 or dmattson@sfnewmexican.com..