SWEETWATER, FLA. (WSVN) - Reports of an active shooter led to chaos and confusion at Dolphin Mall, but police said they turned out to be false.
Videos posted by Only in Dade showed people running out of the large shopping center, located in Sweetwater, Sunday afternoon.
“Everybody told [us], ‘Go out, go out, there are shots, somebody shot somebody,'” said shopper Diago Liveyda.
“There has to be a shooting, because there wasn’t gonna be so much commotion for such a little thing, you know?” said another shopper.
Police evacuated the mall, while some shoppers hid inside the stores.
Luis Dickinson, who is visiting from the Cayman Islands, described the pandemonium inside the shopping center.
“We were shopping at the Gap, and all of a sudden, people just came running to the back, through the store, and we joined them, we followed them, because everybody was panicking,” he said. “We stayed there for about, maybe an hour or so.”
Several law enforcement agencies, including Miami-Dade and Sweetwater Police, swarmed the area.
But around 5 p.m., MDPD deemed the reports unfounded. After officers investigated and canvassed the mall, police said there were no signs of a shooter or an armed man at all.
But shoppers were still taken aback.
“My mom just grabbed my hand and put me in the perfume shop, and I was like, ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?'” said a girl. “Me and my friend were so nervous, and I didn’t know what to do.”
The mall later reopened. No one was injured.
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