Saturday reported gunshots scare shoppers at Governor's Square

Sean Rossman | Democrat staff writer

Panicked Christmas shoppers were sent running out of Governor's Square mall on Saturday night after the sounds of gunshots rang out in the shopping center.

About 7 p.m., numerous mall-goers made 911 calls reporting a man with a handgun chasing a person into the Dillard's department store. The callers reported about 8-10 shots fired, said Tallahassee Police Department spokesman Officer Cleveland Allen.

At the same time, a Leon County Sheriff's Office deputy working an off-duty detail notified dispatchers that there was a fight in the Dillard's wing of the mall. Allen said deputies detained, but did not arrest, a person for picking up a trash can and throwing it on the floor

Allen said a preliminary investigation found no victims, suspects or evidence a shooting occurred. There were no reported injuries and police do not have a suspect.

Allen said police did not know exactly where the chase into Dillard's occurred. The mall, he added, always has police officers and sheriff's deputies working off-duty detail along with security.

"We are still reviewing the surveillance footage to confirm if any shots were fired and how the incident evolved," Allen said. "At this point, we did not see any overt signs that shots were fired."

Allen said a person was arrested in connection with a separate incident.

After the incident, officers escorted shoppers from the mall store-by-store, starting with Dillard's. Hundreds of shaken shoppers remained outside the mall, including Santa Claus, until well after the building was declared safe about 8 p.m. The mall will reopen today.

Sila Lott was celebrating her graduation from Florida State University at the Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo when a person ran inside saying there was a shooting.

"Everyone in the restaurant got up from their seats in a panic and abandoning their meals," she said. "Chairs were getting knocked over. Some of us were told to duck and hide behind the walls in the next room as we notified more diners that there was a shooter. Management opened up the kitchen for us. We all hid there. Some of the men armed themselves with knives and chairs and whatever they could find."

Melissa Bourke, manager of Garnet and Gold, said she was on an elevator when she heard gunshots near Dillard's. She ran to the Garnet and Gold shop and closed the doors until mall officials told her to come outside.

Allie Brock, a shopper from Bainbridge, Georgia, was shopping with friends in a second-floor calendar store when hundreds of people started running, some saying, "move, move, there's a gun."