Witness: ‘All I heard was boom, boom’ at mall
NORWALK — Saul Medina, like others, thought he heard gunshots Monday night coming from Bloomingdale’s at The SoNo Collection.
“All I heard was ‘boom, boom,’ and I thought it was another crazy person trying to shoot up a mall,” Medina said Wednesday.
Medina had just finished his shift at nearby Pinstripes, a bistro featuring bowling and bocce, and was on his way to Bloomingdale’s for a quick shopping trip.
When he first heard the
sounds, the 30-year-old was preparing to run away when he realized the noise was the clattering of items falling to the floor as a man toppled over display cases and racks in the Bloomingdale’s cosmetics department.
That’s when Medina decided to take a closer look.
Around the corner, he found the man police have
identified as 42-year-old Jason Gilbertie, whom Medina caught on video casually smoking a cigar while knocking over displays and smashing any products in his path.
Medina watched as one security guard tried to intervene and got punched in the face. Meanwhile, Medina said several other security guards were hesitant to intervene.
Medina said a female security guard eventually arrived and approached Gilbertie. Once the security guard used pepper spray on Gilbertie, Medina said he and another bystander jumped in and tried to restrain the suspect until police arrived.
“She told him a bunch of times that if he didn’t stop, she would have to pepper spray him,” Medina said. “That’s when he grabbed something off the counter and tried to throw it at her, but he lost his balance and slipped. That’s when me and another guy jumped in and started to struggle with him.”
While Medina and the other person fought with Gilbertie, he said the security guard used pepper spray on the suspect.
Several Norwalk police officers — at least six of them — arrived a short time later. A video captured by another bystander shows police struggling with Gilbertie before using a Taser to subdue and handcuff him.
Vanessa Showalter, a spokeswoman for Allied Universal, the security company hired by the mall, said the incident “was unusual and challenging.”
“Our security professionals responded and engaged the individual to safely contain the situation,” she said in a statement. “Our partners at the Norwalk Police Department were on scene very quickly to arrest the individual responsible. Additionally, we want to clarify that each and every day, Allied Universal’s highly trained security professionals are constantly vigilant in their efforts to keep people safe. All security professionals complete on-going training to help ensure that we uphold top security standards.”
Gilbertie was charged with two counts of thirddegree assault, first-degree criminal mischief, interfering with an officer and breach of peace.
Police said the incident began shortly before 7 p.m. Monday when Gilbertie punched a man near the escalators in the mall, just outside the entrance to Bloomingdale’s.
The incident caused many bystanders to scramble for places to hide and some believed the sounds of the items being thrown was gunfire, sparking panic and false information that was spread on social media.