A chaotic scene at a popular shopping mall in Raleigh Saturday as police are investigating reports of shots fired.
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WRAL reported that police were called to the Crabtree Valley Mall at around 2:45 p.m. local time.
Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said that no one was in custody, nor was anyone wounded.
Witnesses described what they heard as gunshots, followed by pandemonium.
Police said their immediate reaction was to place the mall on lockdown and prevent anyone from entering or leaving.
Officials hosted a press conference before 6 p.m. Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said that police have not determined if there was a shooter, and that no one is now in custody. The ages of the victims range from 10-years-old to 70-years-old. Several eyewitnesses said gunshots were fired from inside the Crabtree Valley Mall.
Police responding to a shooting at a busy mall in Raleigh say they haven’t found anyone with gunshot wounds.
He said that he was standing at the entrance to his store Saturday afternoon when he saw two men who appeared to be in their early 20s arguing in the food court.
One witness said he was 10 or 15 feet from the incident and told WTVD he heard five or six shots and saw a man brandish a handgun.
Witnesses have indicated that they hid inside stores in the mall until the police led them to safety.
Video posted on social media sites shows dozens of people running toward mall exit doors as numerous screams were heard. “They had guns up, kind of covering us as we were running out”.
Riggleman said they were inside the video game store for about a half-hour. She said people were running over tables and chairs to get out of the mall.
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“It was a stampede”, said Carol Everette, 41, who was dress-shopping at the mall with her family right before the commotion. ABC11 spoke to a woman who was in the food court when the shooting happened.
