Shots fired at Polaris Fashion Place in confrontation between two groups
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Gunshots rang out Monday for the second time in less than two weeks at Polaris Fashion Place, police say.
No one was injured in the shooting.
Columbus police are still gathering information, but they say the incident took place about 3:15 p.m. and that it involved at least three people in two groups. At least one person fired a weapon, according to police, who recovered several shell casings.
The confrontation took place on the first-floor main concourse and not inside a store. Footage of the incident was caught on surveillance video, which police are reviewing.
Police were working to evacuate the mall of hundreds of shoppers and employees as of 4:50 p.m. Columbus police could not say if any of the people involved in the incident were still inside the mall.
Columbus police are on scene, as is the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Delaware County Sheriff's Office.
Polaris Fashion Place remains closed as police evacuate the facility and investigate, and it is unclear whether it will reopen Monday.
Witnesses told Karina Cheung of NBC4 that they heard shots fired inside the mall. Another witness told Jamie Ostroff of NBC4 that she heard three or four shots in a row.
At 5:27 p.m., Columbus police said anyone who left behind personal belongings on the second floor may come to main entrance to reclaim them. Police were asking anyone who may left personal belongings on the first floor to not come yet.
At 4:09 p.m., Columbus police sent a tweet reading, "Anyone still inside … please exit the mall through a main exit. Officers are in the hallways to assist."
Police responded to the mall shortly before 3:30 p.m.
This is the second shots-fired incident at Polaris in recent weeks. On March 3, police say two people fired shots at each other at the Carter's store in the mall. Nobody was injured.
Police are looking for Levon L. Sommerville and Anthony DeShawn Truss on felonious assault charges from that incident. They do not believe the two shootings at Polaris are related.