AVENTURA, FLA. (WSVN) - - Two days after a shooting at Aventura Mall left three people injured, a moviegoer criticized the shopping center for not alerting him and other customers about the incident as it played out.
Luis Villanueva told 7News Monday he was surprised that the movie he went to see with his nephews at AMC kept playing Saturday afternoon as the gunmen opened fire on the other side of the mall and not shut off.
In response, the mall management said that there is an emergency system in place.
Cellphone video captured the chaos and confusion in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s shooting, as people were seen hiding inside locked stores, running toward exits and making their way to parking lots.
“Twenty minutes after my shift starts, you hear gunfire and everybody running to the back,” Josephina Golubov said.
Police surrounded the shopping hotspot as more than 150 people called 911 for help.
Inside, officers would find at least three people injured after an argument between two groups turned violent outside the Hugo Boss store near the Nordstrom.
“Two groups of individuals, as far as we can tell, got into a verbal altercation that then resulted in a physical altercation,” said Aventura Police Maj. Michael Bentolila. “One individual displayed a weapon. From the other group, another individual pulled a weapon and actually used it inside the mall.”
As the panic played out among customers inside the mall, and gunshots echoed through the corridors, dozens of people inside the AMC movie theater were watching a movie, oblivious to the fact that there was a shooting and the mall was on lockdown.
“Nothing. Nothing went on, nobody said anything. The movie kept playing,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva said he and his nephews only knew about the shooting from an app notification on their phones.
“It blows my mind that if something serious would’ve happened over there, we would’ve had a major problem because they seem to have no emergency plan in place,” he said.
Mall management said there was an emergency system and it was used, telling 7News, “Aventura Mall operates a system that alerts all tenants simultaneously in the event of an emergency. The tenants then inform their guests of the situation and conduct appropriate procedures. The system was activated after the incident occurred Saturday.”
“The movie should’ve shut off. OK?” Villanueva said. “If a fire happens there, the system shuts off. If something like that is happening, it should shut off.”
7News reached out to corporate resources at AMC Theaters for comment on why staff did not turn the movies off and tell their guests there was a shooting. They have yet to respond.
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