An unknown gunman opened fire inside a Pennsylvania shopping mall Saturday evening remains on the loose.
Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks reports that four shots were fired in the lower level of the mall near a sporting goods store. Dozens of police officers surrounded the building and rushed in to quickly evacuate scared shoppers. About three dozen police vehicles responded to the shooting as well as an armored truck and four ambulances. There were officers from the Whitehall police department, Allentown police department, and Pennsylvania State Police Troopers.
Two local hospitals were put on alert in case anyone with injuries left the mall undetected before law enforcement arrived at the scene.
“The responding officers needed to get into the mall and make sure there was no active gunfire occurring at the moment,” Marks stated. “As far as our secondary operations right now, that’s just making sure that the mall is empty and we were able to account for everybody employed or at least at the mall at that point.”
Shoppers say the scene was chaotic as the shots rang out and panick stricken people ran out of the mall. Police then raced in and instructed those still inside to shelter in place while they searched the stores for victims and a potential suspect.
Ashley Giammona was shopping at the mall with her husband at the time of the shooting. She said, “I will never forget the second of silence that happened after the shots, as we processed what we heard. Then everyone started screaming. My husband slid behind a jewelry display in the middle of the mall, and I army-crawled to him.”
An employee at Bath & Body Works said she and about 50 other people barricaded themselves in the store’s stockroom. She told WFMZ, “We took filing cabinets and pushed them up against the doors.”
Ronny Garcia, who was sheltered in the back of another store with customers, says they were evacuated before most other people because a woman began to go into labor.
No arrests have currently been made but investigators are reviewing surveillance footage in hops of identifying a suspect. Authorities are asking anyone with cell phone footage of the incident to contact police.
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