HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – Malls are always buzzing the day after Christmas, and this Friday afternoon was no different.
“So we decided to stop by Bath and Body Works real quick, and I thought it was going to be a quick trip in and out,“ said Felicity Renfroe, a shopper.
Many people in the mall were making their returns, spending their Christmas cash or helping others spend it.
All of that changed quickly.
Employees at one of the shoe stores in the mall remember the beginning of the commotion.
“I was checking two customers out, and I looked up, and I see people arguing across from the store,“ said Chloe Thompson, a retail worker.
Following that argument, holiday cheer was quickly replaced with fear at Turtle Creek Mall around 3:23 p.m., according to the Hattiesburg Police Department.
“We thought maybe somebody was stealing or they were trying to chase somebody,” Renfroe said. “No, somebody said ‘There’s an active shooter.’”
Witnesses said within seconds store gates were slamming shut and the feeling that followed was uncertainty.
“By the time we got to Foot Locker, the lady was letting the door down and we kind of like slipped in just in time,” said Voletta Williams, another shopper. “And they were saying it was an active shooter, and so we stayed in there probably about 15 to 20 minutes. In fact, we just got out.”
For some people, this uncertainty was paired with anxiety, having experienced a similar situation before.
“This isn’t my first rodeo in a shooting like this,” said ‘Jack Jack’ Moons, a retail worker. “I’m from Mobile, Alabama. In the mall, there would always, like frequently, be stuff happening like that and all that such. So I was probably one of the first people to go to the back.”
‘As a precaution, the mall was placed on lockdown while officers conducted a thorough search of the area. At this time, no evidence of a shooting has been found. Officers located no shell casings, no victims were identified at the scene or at nearby hospitals, and no witnesses reported seeing a shooting occur.’
No witnesses were able to recall hearing gunshots, only screaming, running and gates slamming; however, some people did see what seemed to be the beginning of an altercation shortly before the lockdown.
“I saw them antagonizing,” said Emily Chancelor, a retail worker. “And then I saw that group of guys that was antagonizing the others just book it. And then some people said they heard like a pop and then glass break and all this stuff. We don’t truly know.”
Although no injuries were reported, and there was no evidence of shooting, many mall-goers decided to cut their shopping trips short when the lockdown ended.
“Unsafe. There’s nothing to say but unsafe,” Williams said. “Mall shopping is over.”
As of Friday night, no arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
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