South Miami and Coral Gables police officers responded to a false alarm in downtown South Miami’s Shops at Sunset Place Friday afternoon.

A man who was carrying what appeared to be a rifle was actually carrying an umbrella, said South Miami Maj. Ana Baixauli.

University of Miami police warned students and faculty that police were handling an emergency at Sunset Place, 5701 Sunset Dr. But it wasn’t an emergency.

Meanwhile, an hour after walking into an AMC movie theater to watch the movie Amour, Gail Meadows said “the screen went dark, the lights came on, and there was utter silence.”

When she walked outside to alert AMC employees, she saw about a dozen police officers dressed in black, some with guns drawn.

About 3:15 p.m., shoppers shared their scare, with speculation on Twitter.

“On my way to work until I get a call from my manager saying that there’s a guy with a gun inside of Sunset Place,” Braulio Carvajal tweeted.

Alvaro Vega tweeted, “Miami police and SWAT team at Sunset Place! What’s going on?”

“Nothing is going on,” Baixauli said. “It was just a scare.”

For Meadows, it was a disconcerting experience .

“We were in the line of cars trying to get out onto US 1. It took about 20 minutes,” Meadows said. “Had it been a serious emergency, there's no way Sunset Place would be able to evacuate its garage within minutes.“