1 Person Injured As Panic Erupts At Florida Mall

BOCA RATON, FL — One person was hospitalized late Sunday afternoon as panic erupted at the Town Center shopping mall in Boca Raton amid fears of an active shooter. Police urged thousands of shoppers to seek shelter in the mall's 220 shops and restaurants as a SWAT team moved through the sprawling shopping center with guns drawn.

"We discovered a male on the scene who suffered a trauma wound," Boca Raton Police Chief Daniel Alexander told reporters after correcting an earlier report from his agency that the person suffered a gunshot wound. "We expect that those injuries will not be life threatening."

The chief said he was not aware of any other significant injuries as a result of the incident, which occurred as thousands of shoppers were in the mall on a rainy Sunday.

"We have not identified any suspects. We have not identified any gunshots or gunfire of any sort relative to shell casings or rounds or anything of that nature," the chief said.

As of Sunday night, police could only confirm that a loud noise was heard in the mall.

"We received some video at this point that indicates a number of people turning around at one point in the food court," he said. "Something happened in the food court. We're not discerning at this time what specifically made the noise that caused ultimately the panic."

Alexander said the incident happened shortly after 3 p.m. in the food court.

He said law enforcement agencies from a number of other jurisdictions arrived at the mall once the call went out.

"We had a significant response from both our county (Palm Beach County), Broward County, the federal government to the scene," he said speaking to reporters across the street from the mall. "It was a well coordinated approach and execution as far as our folks doing what they needed to do to set up the perimeters, to set up the staging areas, to get to people. The victim was transported right away."

Alexander said detectives found blood and hair on a door where the victim is believed to have hit his head while trying to flee the mall.

Boca police asked shoppers to shelter in place until officers could safely evacuate them. The injured person was taken to nearby Delray Medical Center. One woman asked police via Twitter how long she would have to stay inside a store.

"We have been stuck inside a store since 3:15 today," the woman tweeted to Boca police around 6 p.m. "What is the time frame to let us out?"

Boca police responded there was no set time for the evacuation "because evacuation procedures are methodical to ensure everyone’s safety." Police told the woman that shoppers would be escorted to what they described as a "debriefing location" before being allowed to leave.

Marwa Ahmed was at Macy's when the incident happened, according to a NextDoor post.

"Yes, I was there at Macy's and we all just ran out. Very scary," said Ahmed of Boca. "I had my three kids with me. We are all pretty shaken up."

The incident comes on the three-day Columbus Day weekend, which is traditionally marked by heavier than usual retail traffic.

The mall is located at 6000 Glades Road. Retailers in the mall include Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Police allowed evacuated shoppers to return to the mall to retrieve their personal belongings from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. It was not clear if the mall planned to resume a regular schedule on Monday.

The mall is about 15 miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where a gunman killed 17 students and faculty members on Valentine's Day 2018.

Alexander said the response by shoppers was probably influenced by the rash of mass shootings that have taken place around the country.

"I think a lot of this is the unfortunate state that we're in relative to these critical incidents," he said. "The type of response that we got today goes to show that our training has paid off."

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