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Wauwatosa — Mayfair Mall officials said Monday they are considering operational changes one day after dozens of young people stormed the popular mall late in the afternoon, scaring customers and store employees.

Police confirmed on Monday that a gun was fired outside the mall. It was unclear whether the disruption inside the mall was connected to an attempted armed robbery near a bus stop where police said the gun was fired.

One eyewitness said Monday that anywhere from 80 to 100 young people went through the Boston Store, in the south end of the mall, about 15 to 20 minutes after security guards broke up a fight outside the department store entrance on the mall's second floor.

Stephanie Beyersdorf watched the mayhem unfold from her assignment in the junior's department, just inside Boston Store's glass entrance.

"They stampeded inside the store and knocked over everything in their way," Beyersdorf said Monday. "It was scary because you didn't know what they were going to do."

Beyersdorf said the teens knocked over mannequins and racks of clothes as they moved to the intimates department, at the opposite end of the store.

Security guards and employees closed the gates to the store, and authorities eventually led most of the group out of Boston Store.

Nine arrested

Nine juveniles, all from Milwaukee, were arrested, police said Monday night.

A 17-year-old girl was referred to the Milwaukee County district attorney's office on a retail theft charge.

Eight others were referred to Milwaukee County Children's Court for possible charges.

Police said they would seek a charge of battery and disorderly conduct against a 16-year-old girl; retail theft against a 13-year-old boy; disorderly conduct against two boys, ages 14 and 15, and three girls, ages 14, 15 and 16; and battery and disorderly conduct against a 14-year-old girl.

While the incident remains under investigation, one theory that emerged was that the operation was planned and executed on a social media site, perhaps Twitter or Facebook.

David Keating, a spokesman for General Growth Properties, the owner-operator of the mall, said in a statement that his company was cooperating with police to determine if the incident was planned or organized in any way. Keating would not specify what policy changes were under consideration. He acknowledged that his firm and police were looking into the possibility the entire incident was planned on social media sites.

"That's one thing we don't know for sure," Keating said.

Lt. Gerald Witkowski, a Wauwatosa police spokesman, also acknowledged the possibility of a social media connection, but added that investigators did not have enough information about that.

The group of teens, possibly 100 to 200, began to gather in and around the food court about 4:30 p.m., according to Katie Fredricks, who observed the events from her station at the Auntie Anne's counter.

After lingering for roughly 10 to 15 minutes, they all herded down the concourse, from the food court toward the Boston Store, which anchors one end of the mall.

"I'm not really sure what they were trying to do," Fredricks said. "It was a strange phenomenon on a Sunday afternoon."

Fredricks said she was unnerved but not frightened by the activities.

A worker at the Champs Sports store described a chain of events similar to what Beyersdorf witnessed: a fight on the second floor of the mall followed by the large group running to Boston Store.

"Everybody got riled up from the fights, and from there, they just wanted to do something stupid," said the Champs worker, who declined to provide his name.

Frightened customers waited out the incident in the shoe and clothing shop.

Witkowski said in a news release that police were called to the mall late Sunday afternoon after receiving reports of vandalism and disorderly conduct.

"There was one reported attempt armed robbery with a confirmed gunshot occurring outside the mall on the parking lot. No one appeared to be injured and no report of injury as a result of the gunshot / attempt armed robbery incident," the news release stated.

The mall was closed by management about 20 minutes before the normal 6 p.m. closing time.

Mayor says mall is safe

The weekend incident also raised fears that people would avoid shopping at the mall. Mayor Jill Didier, who had been shopping with her daughter earlier Sunday, said the mall annually attracts millions of customers and is safe.

"It is a positive environment to go to," Didier said.

Still, Didier said the incident concerned her.

"It's always a concern when something happens in your community," she said. "You have to take it seriously."

Jean Gama, who manages Think Toys on the first level, said she feared news of the incident would create an unfair perception about security at Mayfair, where she has worked for more than a dozen years.

"I wouldn't be walking to my car seven nights a week if I didn't think it was safe," Gama said.

Keating said in a statement that Sunday's incident was rare.

"We are proactively working with the police department and investigating various communication outlets to apprehend individuals involved and hold them accountable. The safety and security of our visitors are always our top priority. We will not tolerate any behavior that compromises our visitors' safety," he said.

The mall has a policy in which people 17 and younger must be accompanied by a parent or supervising adult age 21 or older after 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Bayshore Town Center in Glendale imposed a similar curfew one year ago, after roughly 100 teens became disruptive in the food court. Youths 17 and under must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian in the mall's public areas after 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Valor Security Services handles security at Mayfair; the company did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Didier said police would find the perpetrators.

"Our clearance rate is very high."

Didier declined to say whether police and mall security were reviewing videotape to identify suspects. Witkowski said he did not know if police were looking at videotapes. He added that the department had received some tips about the incident.

Didier acknowledged that people had made a connection between Sunday's incident and an attempted freeze tag-playing flash-mob event on Dec. 23 at the mall. Police had said that mall managers had become concerned after learning that 130 Wauwatosa West High School students had joined a Facebook group organizing a flash mob. A flash mob is a group of people assembling in a public place to perform a prearranged activity.

Police said the students in the Facebook group were issued one-day bans from the mall. The four teens who organized the Facebook event agreed to call the event off.