PARAMUS — A large-scale evacuation is underway at the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Bergen County tonight after shoppers and workers heard multiple gun shots fired inside the mall.

Shots erupted inside the mall shortly after it closed for the night at about 9:30 p.m., according to witnesses and media reports.

Paramus Mayor Rich LaBarbiera described the mall as "in lockdown," and police said thousands of people remain inside the mall as of 11:30 p.m.

LIVE UPDATES ON MALL SHOOTING

Jeanne Baratta, a spokesperson for Bergen County, said police believe the gunman — reportedly a male dressed all in black — remained inside the mall after the shooting. But as of 11:30 p.m., it appeared the gunman was no longer inside.

There are no reports of any injuries at this time.

The scene outside Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus Monday night.

Live video footage on News 12 New Jersey is showing dozens of law-enforcement vehicles surrounding the mall off Route 17 at this hour. A witness named Robert told News 12 that a police car crashed into a guardrail outside the mall, near the Nordstrom department store.

"I've had goosebumps, and the hair on my neck is standing up," he told News 12.

Another witness, who identified herself as Margaret, told News 12 she was inside the mall with her sister in the MAC cosmetics store tonight when they heard what sounded "like firecrackers that you throw down."

"It was very surreal," said Andre Munoz, another witness interviewed by News 12. "I couldn't believe it. I was almost in disbelief."

Customers inside the mall were reportedly ordered to drop to the floor, and lights inside stores were turned off, according to News 12. The shooter is reportedly on the loose.

A woman named Caryn told News 12 that she and her husband were shopping at the mall when someone asked if they heard a gunshot. Immediately after that, she heard gunfire in quick succession. "Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," she said.

"It was remarkable and an almost out-of-body experience," she said.

Caryn, her husband and the store manager ran into the back storage room of the store, hid and called 911, she told News 12. They stayed put and waited until it quieted down. They eventually peeked out and saw a police presence in the mall.

Another witness told News 12 she saw the gunman dressed all in black and wearing a black motorcycle helmet. He was carrying a long shotgun on the side of his leg and he was "shooting at random stuff," the witness said.

Mall security told mall shoppers to run, "or they would die," according to News 12 New Jersey.

Theresa Domico, 31, was watching "Bad Grandpa" at the mall cinema just before 9:30 p.m. when she heard the fire alarm go off. Domico said everyone in the theater left in an orderly fashion, but when she got outside to the parking lot she saw employees from Grand Lux Cafe running out.



"It was chaos. Everybody was like, 'What do we do?' " Domico told The Star-Ledger.

Brittney Sagun, 24, said she was already in the parking lot around 9:50 p.m. with her mom when she saw people running out of the mall. She saw one family, including a 3-year-old girl, fleeing the mall and left her car door open for them.

"They were yelling across the street hysterically crying,” Sagun said, adding that the family said they were in Nordstrom at the time of the shooting. "They heard the gunshots."

Sagun said she drove the family to the end of the parking lot, where there were ambulances lined up.

David Vergel, 36, was closing up the store he manages, Eye to Eye Vision Center, near Lord & Taylor around 9:15 p.m when he heard a loud sound. "At that point I didn't know what it was," he said.



But seconds later he heard another one and realized it sounded like gunshots.



"It sounded close and it literally made me jump," he said.



He looked across the mall and saw a man, who was facing the direction of where the gunshots sounded like where they were coming from, run.



At that point, Vergel said he closed up the gate in front of his store and hid behind a brick wall inside the store. While he was hiding he continued to hear gunshots in quicker succession, but going farther away.



"Then it sounded like barrage, like pow pow pow pow pow," he said. "That's when I was literally freaking out. My heart was pounding."



At one point he called his friend who was coming to pick him up to warn him. "I said, 'Listen — stay away form the mall. There's gunshots,' " he said.



Vergel stayed hidden for about 40 minutes, until he heard people in the hallway yelling. He peeked out his window and saw about 20 or 30 police officers, some with assault rifles.



They told him to leave the mall, and he ran to meet his friend.

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS

Star-Ledger staff writers Naomi Nix, Amy Kuperinsky, Len Melisurgo and Caryn Shinske contributed to this report.

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