A Long Island mall was partially evacuated Tuesday after a fallen display made a sound similar to gun fire spooking holiday shoppers, authorities and eyewitnesses said.
The Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City was shut down at 1:15 p.m. when a shoplifter in Macys knocked over a display case and the crashing sound was mistaken for gunfire, according to a spokesman for Simon Properties the mall’s management company.
Panicked last minute Christmas shoppers ran for the exits, at least three people suffered minor injuries, NBC-4 reported.
The department store was evacuated as well as other stores in the mall and they didn’t start to reopen until word spread that the shoplifter had been arrested, the spokesman said. Cops deemed the area safe and it was determined that the thief was unarmed, he added.
The mall was reopened by 2 p.m. and shopping has resumed, the spokesman said.
“A scary 15 minutes on Long Island as reports of shots fired @Roosevelt Field Mall eventually became reports of a display being knocked over,” tweeted @robcesternino.
The mall was shut down last September when a disgruntled contractor opened fire at an office building near the mall, killing one man and wounding another.