During a news conference Saturday evening Raleigh police says they are still investigating whether or not shots were fired or perhaps something else. They turned and ran outside, along with a rush of other people. Many who left, unable to get their vehicles, went across Glenwood Avenue to the parking lot of the Marriott hotel.
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Police told them they could leave the store at about 3 p.m.
Raleigh’s police chief says investigators are still trying to determine whether there was a shooting at a Raleigh mall where witnesses reported hearing gunfire.
Reports of gunshots inside a busy North Carolina mall caused chaos Saturday afternoon as shoppers ran screaming for the doors or sheltered in stores while dozens of officers arrived on the scene, witnesses said.
No suspects have been arrested, and no one with gunshot wounds has been located.
In a post one hour after the gunshots were heard, local Deborah Berry said she “bonded with strangers in a closet” and “hugged” before posing for a photo once they made it safely outside.
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Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck Brown said there were at least 8 people emergency workers brought to hospitals with injuries. He said he did not hear any gunshots himself. Antonio Richardson, the owner of Casanova, a clothing store in the mall, says 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. Baker said the incident happened near the mall’s food court and she saw a person get handcuffed, but police have not confirmed those details. Another eyewitness, Dan Fahey, said he was eating with his wife at P.F. Chang’s when he saw a huge “throng of people” leaving the mall, “running at full speed”. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
