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By RYAN BAGWELL and JOSHUA STEWART Staff Writers

Secret Service agent wounded when he tries to stop fight.

At least four people were shot at the crowded Annapolis mall last night, including an off-duty Secret Service agent who opened fire on a teen involved in a food court gunfight.

At least six shots rang out just after 7:15 p.m. near the Cingular wireless store in the Westfield Annapolis mall, police and witnesses said, sending hordes of panicked shoppers running for cover.

The gunfire erupted after a group of young men started fighting with another young man, said Officer Sara Schriver, a county police spokesman. The Secret Service agent, who was at the mall with his family, tried to break it up, she said.

One person in the group pulled out a gun - possibly a revolver - and shot the agent, police said. The wounded agent fired back and was able hit the assailant.

Somehow two other people were hit in the melee, police said. Three were in stable condition at area hospitals last night and the fourth was treated for a graze wound.

Police said they are investigating whether the mall fight is linked to neighborhood rivalries that led to seven arrests at Annapolis High on Friday.

The agent and the first teen were flown to the Shock-Trauma Center at

University Hospital in Baltimore. The others were taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center, said Capt. Tim Bowman, the county police department's night watch commander.

A source in the Secret Service said the agent is assigned to the presidential protection division, but Kim Bruce, a Secret Service spokesman, couldn't confirm that information last night.

Capt. Bowman said both the assailant and person being harassed were teenagers.

No arrests had been made as of last night.

Witnesses described a scene of pure chaos as a wave of Saturday night mallgoers fled the packed food court, dropping trays, merchandise and even knocking over racks of clothes on their way.

Some ducked behind support columns for cover, and others just took off.

Fourteen-year-old Brandy Hubbard was ordering a soda at Chick-fil-A when she saw eight or nine people run to the Cingular cell phone store.

"We were looking over there and we said, 'what the heck,' " she said, "And then we heard gunshots and started running."

Tiffany Hardy, a Centerville teen, was eating dinner in the Red Robin restaurant when the gunfight started. "I heard gunshots, and everyone got down," she said, teary eyed. "Then everyone ran out."

Police cordoned off the food court entrance with yellow police tape as they collected evidence and took witnesses away for interviews.

Confused shoppers stared at the sea of empty chairs and cold food, wondering what took place.

Scott deGraffenreid, a mall spokesman, would only say mall employees are cooperating with police. They turned over surveillance tapes to investigators, he said.

Police said the food court probably will reopen today.