(VIDEOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
There was an active shooter on Sunday afternoon at the Galleria at Crystal Run mall in Middletown, NY, about 70 miles north of midtown Manhattan.
According to Breaking911.com, the shooting occurred at around 3:15PM on Sunday afternoon – a very busy shopping day on the last day of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.
Police say the American Eagle store was evacuated.
Police reported 2 injuries, but did not disclose the extent of the victim’s injuries.
It’s not immediately clear whether they were shot or injured in another way.
The Woodbuy Police department says the gunshots appear to have been an accidental discharge, in the following statement posted to Its Facebook page:
“At this time, what we are hearing was that the shooting was an accidental discharge from a firearm. A round hit the floor then ricocheted off of glass injuring people. People have minor injuries from the glass shards, AND NO FATALITIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED AT THIS TIME. No one can confirm an active shooter entering or exiting the mall. The Galleria has been placed on lock down as normal protocol and police are still investigating at this time. Again, reports are still unconfirmed and we will update you as soon as we get more information available. Thank you”
Leighton Peterson was grabbing a pre-movie bite to eat in the mall’s food court around 3:20 when suddenly, he heard alarms, “and all of the employees were telling everybody to get to the exits and evacuate,” he told The Associated Press.
As people made orderly progress toward the exits, Peterson thought it might be a fire drill until he heard a worried-looking mall worker mention a shooting, he recalled.
Outside, holiday shoppers lingered at first to see whether there might be an all-clear and reopening. But before long, “it became pretty clear that there was an actual situation happening, so then people started leaving en masse,” in a bumper-to-bumper stream out of the packed parking lot, said Peterson, 32, a video editor.
The Galleria mall also was evacuated during the holiday shopping rush in December 2008, when an odor of gas at a department store forced the shopping center to close early on a Thursday evening.
Galleria Mall | Middletown, NY:
– Active Shooter Reported
– Portion of Mall Evacuated
– Large Police Responsehttps://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017
HAPPENING NOW: Police Respond To Shooting at Galleria at Crystal Run Shopping Mall in Middletown, NY – https://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN pic.twitter.com/lcGc9rNUve
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017
DEVELOPING: Reports of multiple shooting victims at Galleria mall in Middletown, NY – https://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN pic.twitter.com/XFFGj6WjaY
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017
UPDATE: NY state police say 2 people injured, no arrests made after reports of shots fired at Galleria at Crytstal Run mall – News12https://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN pic.twitter.com/qmMOwUVANV
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017
Shoppers Evacuated From NY Shopping Mall Amid Reports of Shooting – https://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN pic.twitter.com/tj3Yt5mrZC
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017
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