Fireworks set off at Sawgrass Mills spark shooting scare, lockdown
Rumors of gunfire inside Sawgrass Mills raced through social media faster than a speeding bullet Sunday. The mall was put on lockdown around 5 p.m. as patrons scurried out or hid inside stores.
But Sunrise police say the sounds were just “fireworks released inside the mall property.”
The mall reopened after a short lockdown. This makes it the fourth South Florida mall — Dolphin Mall, Aventura Mall, Westland Mall, and now Sawgrass Mills — that’s dealt with a false alarm of an active shooter this year.
Police said they are investigating the fireworks incident.
Zach and I were just at Sawgrass Mills mall and everyone around us started running saying there was an active shooter. We ran and hid in H&M’s back storage area for 20 min with like 100 people. We are OK now but that was the scariest moment of my life. #Sawgrassmills
— Kristin Barnes (@kristin_barnes) December 31, 2017
David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal
This story was originally published December 31, 2017 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Fireworks set off at Sawgrass Mills spark shooting scare, lockdown."