A shooting erupted at the Cumberland Mall in Atlanta on Saturday, police said, with holiday shoppers fleeing and ducking under tables as social media users posted videos of the suspected gunman inside the food court.
A video posted to Twitter showed the chaos that erupted within the food court of the suburban mall as a gunshot was heard going off somewhere nearby.
"One person was shot and the suspect fled the scene", Cobb County Officer Sydney Melton confirmed in a statement to The Independent. "The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment. A suspect has been identified and we are working to locate him."
She added: "This was not an active shooter incident but it was called such by the original supervisor out of an abundance of caution. Once on scene, it was quickly determined that it was a dispute that resulted in shots fired."
The Cobb County Police Department previously confirmed it was monitoring what appeared to be an “isolated incident” at the mall in a statement posted to Twitter.
The mall was placed on lock down and a heavy police and swat presence surrounded the area.
Multiple Facebook and Twitter users said they were either evacuated from the mall by security officials or kept inside of shops that were locked down during the incident.
An Instagram user posted a video from within the food court that appeared to show the shooting suspect firing a weapon at someone as patrons continued fleeing.
One Facebook user by the name of Tonia Carter suggested there was an altercation over a new pair of recently-released Nike Jordan sneakers, writing: “A person was about dead at Cumberland Mall over the new Jordan’s.”
“They fought in the Food Court and a gun was pulled”, she continued. “He’s laying dead in front of Moe’s. The Mall is locked down. All roads blocked.”
Another Twitter user said their sister called “to tell me she loved me” after the shooting had occurred, writing: “She escaped through an Apple Store where there was a back exit to outside the mall.”
A witness who said he was inside of the Champs store at the mall told a local news channel that a man shot another man near a restaurant following a loud argument, and there were about two or three gunshots that could be heard before the suspect fled the scene.
Thee other witnesses told the Associated Press they had seen a man bleeding on the floor of the food court.
