AVENTURA, FLA. (WSVN) - - Rescue crews took three people to the hospital and treated three others for minor injuries at Aventura Mall after a fire alarm went off, causing the second such panic at a South Florida shopping center in just over 24 hours.
Aventura Police took to Twitter to confirm it was all a false alarm. Officials indicated no shooting or fire-related incidents took place at the shopping center, Saturday evening.
#AventuraPolice ***ALERT*** A fire alarm went off at the @AventuraMall everything is safe and under control. #AventuraPolice is on scene and working with @AventuraMall security and @MiamiDadeFire to advise shoppers that everyone is safe. @cityofaventura pic.twitter.com/eoQIXhycII
— Aventura Police (@aventurapolice) December 16, 2018
But, by that time, panic had already taken hold of shoppers. Witnesses took out their cellphones and recorded the chaos on video.
Footage posted to social media captured an abandoned stroller and a spilled coffee cup in the middle of the mall floor.
Speaking through a translator, shopper Andres Pomo said he was inside the mall when the alarm went off.
“We were all very scared,” he said.
Pomo, who is currently in South Florida on vacation, said that when he heard the sirens, he ran to the nearest exit.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded and tended to the patients’ fall-related injuries.
Paramedics transported at least three of the victims by ground to an area hospital, but officials said all injuries were minor.
Meanwhile, police officers monitored the scene and calmed shoppers.
“There were police officers, and there were also paramedics,” said shopper Tahnie Danastor. “They were helping people.”
The pandemonium at Aventura Mall took place just a day after a fire alarm suddenly went off in the food court at Sawgrass Mills Mall, triggering a similar scene. Officials believe the alarm somehow malfunctioned.
Sawgrass Mills has had its fair share of panic and false alarms in the past.
Back in August, some shoppers feared there was an active shooter inside the mall. Those reports were unfounded.
In late 2017, a shoplifter set off fireworks, sending other shoppers into a panic.
“They got the AR-15 out, bruh, it’s not a joke,” a fearful shopper is heard saying in cellphone video.
In August 2017, SWAT team members swarmed Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater. It turned out to be yet another active shooter scare. No scene was ever found.
Back at Aventura Mall, store operations later returned to normal.
“Everything’s calm, except you’ll see police officers and then paramedics, and you’re like, ‘What’s going on?'” said Danastor, “but no. Everything is fine.”
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