A regional police response and chaotic scene among shoppers at Monroeville Mall on the final Sunday before Christmas was triggered after a call to emergency dispatchers about a dispute between two people.
The initial call included the report of a person with a gun, police said.
There is no evidence gunfire occurred at the mall, according to Monroeville Police Department Chief Doug Cole. The incident began with the call about 2:54 p.m.
“There was an argument between two individuals,” Cole said. “As (dispatchers) tried to get more information (it) became (clear) that they weren’t sure it was a gun, it might ... have been a cellphone.
“That then parlayed itself into a report that there possibly was shots fired here at the mall.”
Julie Rodriguez, who was shopping at the Victoria’s Secret store with her mom, Kim, and daughter, Abigail, described the incident as “chaos.” She said Victoria’s Secret employees locked the store down quickly and ran into the back of the store.
“We were just really scared,” Julie Rodriguez said. “It was just chaotic — craziness.”
“I was scared that somebody got hurt … just anybody during the holiday season,” she said. “It’s just very sad.”
Julie Rodriguez said her family did not know what happened, but that they heard people say that there was a report of an active shooter at the mall.
“I personally did not, but people were saying that they did hear some gunshots.”
The mall was locked down and Cole said he happened to be near the mall when the call came in. He said there started to be “a lot of movement of people” at the mall as police responded as if it were an active shooter event.
The chief said police, upon arrival, were unable to find anyone shot nor evidence that a gun had gone off at the mall.
“It appears at this time that this was totally a mistake,” he said.
One person was treated for “an anxiety attack,” the police chief said.
According to communication sent from Monroeville Mall management to tenants at the mall, “Monroeville PD has cleared and confirmed the lockdown is over. Police were not able to confirm any gun shots occurred at the center. Please resume normal operations.”
No arrests were made.
“We really never had any real true evidence that there was an active shooter,” Cole said.
The lockdown in place at the mall was lifted at about 4 p.m.
Kim Rodriguez said store employees did a good job of handling the situation in the midst of panic.
“They were fast with us … they were great,” she said.
Julie Rodriguez said it was hard to stay calm.
“I just saw people running, and I kind of knew that there was some kind of shooting or something going on, and I thought to myself, ‘Am I going to die?’” said Abigail Rodriguez, who is 17.