Shoppers get scare at Sawgrass Mills

Sawgrass Mills shut down for 1 hour

Panicked shoppers poured out of Sawgrass Mills on Sunday as rumors spread about shots fired inside the largest outlet mall in the country. But itwas all a false alarm, Sunrise Police said.

SUNRISE — Panicked shoppers poured out of Sawgrass Mills on Sunday as rumors spread about shots fired inside the largest outlet mall in the country.

It was a false alarm, possibly started when “security guards may have run into some garbage cans” while chasing a shoplifter, Sunrise Police said.

The mall, near Sunrise Boulevard and the Sawgrass Expressway, was on lockdown for about an hour — no one allowed in or out. The mall reopened about 4 p.m.

Akeeba Blunt, 18, saw chaos as people pushed each other to get out of Target. She said she almost fell when a man shoved her, and she saw a woman run out of the store leaving her shoes behind.

“I thought ‘What’s going on?’ But then the police told us to leave,” Blunt recalled, saying she had seen police with their guns drawn.

Marian Liu and her fiancé were shopping at the mall Sunday when they got caught up in the commo-

tion.

“We basicallywere shopping for shoes and then all hell broke loose,” she said. “Then we started running, and therewas screaming.”

Liu described a dramatic scene, with helicopters overheard and cops everywhere. Many shoppers seemed scared and confused.

Callscame in to 911claiming shots had been fired at the mall, said Officer Chris Piper, a spokesman for the Sunrise Police Department.

“We had [false] reports of shots fired,” Piper said. “They locked down the

mall. Itwas just a shoplifter. No shots [were] fired.”

As of 6 p.m. Sunday, policewere still looking for the shoplifter and no one had been arrested, Piper said. Police were reviewing surveillance video for more details.

Outside near the mall’s entrances, some police officers were armed with assault

People were scattered throughout the parking lot, watching the mall or waiting around to be let back in. After 4 p.m., everything inside was back to normal as shoppers continued hunting for deals.

Bryan Wuen, 20, was in the Levi’s store with his younger brother, and his familywas in a store nearby. He recalled looking out into the mall through the store’s entrance and seeing people running all at once.

“They seemed sort of panicked,” he said. “I didn’twant togoout there, so I went out the back with the other people.”

He grabbed his brother andheadedout the back of the store, later reuniting with his family.

Liu said people asked the mall’s security guards what was going on, but theyweren’t much help.

“There was no guidance or help,” she said. “Security said they weren’t allowed to tell us. We didn’t know what was going on. Shops were letting people in and then closing the doors.”

On Dec. 31, 2017, the mall was also placed on a brief lockdown when fireworks and smoke bombs went off. Police said itwas a distraction used by a thief who robbed a jewelry store.

Sawgrass Mills, owned by Simon Property Group, has 350 stores and restaurants.