According to mall officials, it was a celebration gone wrong. But shoppers inside the mall thought it was serious business.
“We saw a couple of kids run out, we just thought they were kids,” said Chevy Condon, a shopper at the Quail Springs Mall.
Then the sound that is becoming all too familiar.
“We heard pop, pop, pop, pop and I ran to the Van store and told them there was someone shooting,” said Quail Springs mall shopper Tracy Adams.
Shoppers tried to process what was happening.
“You know I have a concealed carry license so I know what that sounds like so it was scary for me, you know I had to take my aunt and my family to get in the car, it’s crazy,” he Ashley said. Capps, Quail Springs Mall Buyer.
Jim Cooke and his wife were leaving the cinema when they saw the chaos.
“We went out and they had closed the exit and there were all kinds of police around a group of people there. Someone had reported a gunshot,” said Jim Cooke, a shopper at the Quail Springs Mall.
The 911 calls came in as shoppers took cover.
“Her dad picked her up, my husband grabbed my hand and we ran out, just because it sounded like shots were fired,” said Chevy Condon Quails Springs Mall shopper.
All the mayhem stemmed from what police identified as a graduation party at a hair salon
“They were like, we’re sorry, we’re sorry, and we said, what do you mean? What are you sorry for? And they were like, that’s us, we were doing poppers because it was our students’ graduation theme,” Adams said .
While shoppers were relieved it wasn’t a shot, the scare was a little too real and will take some time to process.
“I mean, I could give it a little break; I mean just for a little bit, I mean, absolutely, she’s still scared of him,” said Marnie Julkowski, a shopper at Quails Springs Mall.
Police say one woman passed out during the scare and another fell and hurt her leg, but the good news is it wasn’t a shooting.
