Auburn Hills Police search for person who yelled ‘shots fired’ at Great Lakes Crossing Mall
Police investigating for person who falsely yelled 'shots fired at Great Lakes Crossing
An investigation is ongoing after a fight between girls led to chaos inside Great Lakes Crossing Mall when someone yelled 'shots fired.' Police are looking for that person, along with the girls involved in the fight, who ran off while still handcuffed during the commotion.
AURN HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Saturday evening, panic spread at Michigan's biggest mall as someone called out ‘shots fired’, prompting a massive police response. Two days later, police are urging those responsible to come forward as they scour video to find them.
The chaos at the Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills started around 6:30 Saturday night. As police were at the mall for a reported theft, a fight broke out and officers had to intervene. During the fight, police pulled out a Taser to subdue someone when somebody else yelled ‘shots fired’ - creating a massive panic inside the mall.
"Initially we were there taking an unrelated, completely unrelated, theft report," said Auburn Hills Police Deputy Chief Scott McGraw. "Just throwing punches, and my officers reacted to that by trying to stop the assault."
Police cleared the mall of any possible active shooter and had taken two juvenile girls into custody. Police said they ran from the scene during the chaos and that they are not responsible for prompting the panic at the food court.
"People started running into our store, was like ‘somebody shooting, shots fired.’ I’m scared," mall employee Angel Watkins said.
After the shouting, people ran outside and flooded dispatch with 911 calls. The original officers at the scene were quickly overwhelmed and more police from different agencies arrived to assist.
Nobody was hurt during the panic as people ran from the mall.
However, the handcuffs girls ran off.
"At some point, they do need to come back and talk to us," McGraw said.
Police want their handcuffs back. They are also looking for the person who was Tased, along with the person who yelled that shots were fired.
"We have to see what the intent was. If it was to create chaos we can’t have that," McGraw said.