SWEETWATER, FLA. (WSVN) - Reports of shots fired that turned out to be unfounded led to mayhem at Dolphin Mall, leading police officers to take a man into custody in connection to what they described as an incident involving a stolen vehicle.
Shoppers who spoke with 7News described a terrifying scene on Sunday afternoon.
“All of a sudden, we just hear people screaming, ‘Get down, get down!'” said shopper Vanessa Fernandez.
“We just see like a stampede of people running out of Dolphin Mall,” said shopper Christina Gonzalez.
Fernandez said she and her husband Gabriel were taking their two children to a birthday party at an indoor playground in the mall when chaos erupted.
“It was extremely scary,” she said. “I was with the little one. I grabbed him, and I just ran to the back, and I was just ducking down, and I saw [Gabriel] running, and I’m like, ‘Gabby!’ I start yelling, ‘We’re back here, we’re back here.'”
Sweetwater Police responded to the shopping center shortly after and confirmed this was a false alarm.
Until that was certain, however, rumors spread fast, and shoppers ran off just as quickly.
Cellphone video posted to social media captured the mall’s food court turned upside down after people rushed out in a panic. Food was seen left on the tables and scattered on the ground. Chairs had been flipped over.
The situation was just as frightening inside the stores. Speaking in Spanish, shopper Eduardo Liste said he was told to get to the back of a store, and then the employees locked the doors and turned off the lights and music.
Also speaking a Spanish, shopper Susan Duarte said she hid under a clothes rack.
Gonzalez said she was having lunch at The Cheesecake Factory when she saw the panicked crowds run by.
”We were praying. There were other families praying, huddled underneath tables,” she said. “We just ran, and then, all of a sudden, everybody’s, like, going down to the ground and getting under tables.”
The pandemonium left Gonzalez’s daughter, Mellisa Gonzalez, in tears.
“My heart hurt. I cried because I got scared I’ll get taken,” said Mellisa.
A shopper sent 7News video of a man on the ground being handcuffed by officers.
Another clip captured police officers searching a car outside.
While police said no shots ended up being fired, they did end up investigating a stolen car situation at the mall.
Shoppers said they’re just thankful to have made it out safe.
“When you’re in that moment, it really does feel like it’s happening,” said Gabriel.
“It was really scary, really, really scary, but thank God we’re OK,” said Gonzalez.
Police have not confirmed whether or not the man seen being handcuffed in the video sent to 7News is the one they took into custody. They also haven’t specified what charges the man they did take into custody may face.
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