Yesterday I was in the mall shopping with my wife. While there a fight broke out between 2 young men right in front of the store we were in. A crowd forms and everyone starts filming with their cell phones. I call 911 and get an automated system which answers; All operators are busy assisting other callers at this time, if you have an emergency please hang up and call 911??? The mall has mall security but they were nowhere in sight, but showed up after the fact. Anyways both individuals stopped fighting and went on there way after about 5 minutes. I told my wife to stay in the store while I was calling 911 which she did because I was concerned about possibly a weapon being pulled. Thoughts and discussions.
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Boyz from the hood I’d wager.
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Thanks for sharing @Johnnyq60! That’s sad about the 911 recording. You were aware of your surroundings and did everything I would have. As for security, maybe they heard the commotion and took off the other way?
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You were inside the store, fight was in front of the store. Good scenario to be not involved.
Crowd was formed there already, so what I would do - I would take my wife and walk away.
If I’m with any Family member and see other “witnesses” I’m staying away. I do not call 911.
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Since your exit out the front would have brought you and your wife closer to the fight the one additional thing I might have done is asked a store worker if there was a rear exit or at least a place to hide in the back storage area in case the fight escalated with weapons and/or additional participants.
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I would follow Paul Blart when he goes in the opposite direction away from the fight.
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There is always a back door in the mall store to load in supplies. Just remember this
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The last time I called 911, it was around 11:00 at night and maybe 25 degrees temperature, and I had passed a car that was up an embankment, lights on, engine running, but seemingly no activity inside the vehicle. I assumed someone was DWI and had passed out. After getting the initial details from me, the dispatcher started grilling me like I was some kind of suspect. So I hung up.
@Johnnyq60, it sounds like you did the right thing, keeping yours safe, and notifying (or at least trying to notify) those properly equipped to handle the situation.
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I have seen something similar, two guys fight and people gather, sets people up for not paying attention to pic pocketers roaming through grabbing what they can. This also can be used to pull the securities attention away from an area so others can perform theft in another area.
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I suspect this is true of stores on the first floor of malls but not always true of stores on upper stories unless there is elevated parking.
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and maybe look for a back door (ignore employee only signs)
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Was there an exit at the rear of the store? A couple of years ago I would have acted like you did. Today, alarms or no alarms I’m exiting through the alarmed door in the rear, especially if my wife is by my side. She’s not as mobile as I am and I can’t outrun a sloth!
I don’t need to know the outcome nor do I want to be anywhere near an angry crowd or an apathetic crowd filming violence!
Exit stage left, then call 911 from a safe distance. However it seems to me calling for pizza and not paying the delivery guy would have gotten the swat team there faster! Gotta have priorities!
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Don’t you hate it when that happens?
“Your call is very important!” D’oh. Did they have cheery hold music?
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Fight in front of the store doesn’t require to look for back door. Mall is usually big enough to just walk away far enough from that fight.
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Lots of good information here. YES, clear out quickly thru the closest exit.
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Having pizza ordered can be dangerous. I recently saw a news report of a home invasion in my area where theives ordered pizza to an address. When the homeowner went to open the door, the thieves rushed the door.
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Wouldn’t the 2nd floor stores have a stockroom in back and wouldn’t there be a way to get stuff there from the loading dock without having to go through the retail area?
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Maybe in some malls but not all. When I was much younger I worked at an outfitter in a mall on the second floor and all their deliveries came through the front entrance in the morning before the mall opened.
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Back when I was a young stud as an operations manager for a very well known, high end department store in the D.C. tri-state area.
All the deliveries came through a central hub. All items were monitored and checked in and in some cases safe guarded eg: jewelry, electronics and fur coats. ( Yes fur coats were legal back then! ) Delivered to the outlying stores, before opening, through their front doors, every outlying store had an emergency fire exit. Some exits on upper floors to the roof! Some exits are not marked for the general public.
For instance, when you walk into your local supermarket, look left and right and you’ll clearly see red or green EXIT signs. What’s not clear or marked are the exits behind the butcher, or the pharmacy or upstairs administrative offices that lead to a roof exit and a ladder leading down. There’s always a way out, even if it means crashing through a window! Ala “The Terminator”
I don’t ever want to resort to using my firearm.
If there’s one thing I learned here, it’s avoiding danger! Even if that means jumping through a plate glass window, setting off door alarms or repelling off the side of a building!
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You did right by not getting involved, of course. I rarely go to my local mall but whenever I am in any store, I locate all of the exits and also identify different cover and concealment areas, just in case. I used to think I was being paranoid until I ran into an off-duty police officer that I know. He told me that he does the exact same thing, as they are trained to do so.
I would advise that you start locating the alternate exits so you can be sure to protect yourself and others as best as possible.
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