Mall shoppers took off running for cover after a large brawl broke out at an Ontario, California mall, according to KCBS-TV, thinking that they'd heard gunfire.
According to KCBS-TV, the brawl erupted at the Ontario Mills Mall on Saturday night and reportedly involved anywhere between five and 12 people.
The station reported that several witnesses thought they heard gunfire during the melee, but officials knocked the notion down later, noting that the noise was actually a Taser reportedly being used by one of the parties involved in the scuffle.
When the Taser deployed, several shoppers reportedly took off on foot and began running away from the noise, and many people in the mall thought that the fight was actually an active shooter situation.
The Ontario Police Department's official Twitter page shared an update, which stated, "Update: OPD confirms no active shooting occurred at Ontario Mills Mall. There was a fight that had broken out and caused patrons to panic. Ontario Mills Mall is safe."
Update: OPD confirms no active shooting occurred at Ontario Mills Mall. There was a fight that had broken out and caused patrons to panic. Ontario Mills Mall is safe.
— Ontario Police Dept. (@OntarioPD) July 8, 2018
According to the local police department, the brawl caused a "hysteria" among the mallgoers.
KCBS reported that "some injuries" were caused by those attempting to flee the scene, but "most of the injuries were minor."
KCAL-TV’s Cristy Fajardo called the mall encounter a “mass panic at a very crowded mall all over what turned out to be a false alarm.”
One witness said that people began rushing the exits shouting about a gun.
“[E]veryone ran out towards the exits shouting 'gun, gun,'" the witness said, “and everyone at the AMC ran out cause they heard ‘gun’ inside. And long story short, everyone panicked and it was just a fight gone wrong, with a Taser.”
According to KCBS, no arrests were made in connection with the mall brawl.
Update 7/9/18: An earlier version of this post reported that the mall in question was located in Ontario, Canada, instead of Ontario, California.
