AURORA, Colo. — A fight inside the Aurora Town Center mall led to gunfire Friday afternoon, causing panic among shoppers.
Aurora police said no one was hurt by the gunfire, and they quickly took three males into custody after responding to a call of shots fired at 2:45 p.m.
The mall is located southeast of I-225 and East Alameda Avenue in Aurora. Video from AIRTRACKER7 showed a large police response to the shooting, calling up similarities to the response of the 2012 theater massacre that occurred nearby.
But that's where the similarities ended. Police quickly assured the public that Friday's incident was not a mass shooting event after they reviewed surveillance video and tracked down the suspects.
Still, the sound of gunfire in the crowded shopping center sent people running as panicked shoppers scrambled for the exits, running through department stores to get out, according to witnesses.
Twitter user Paris Annalisa Adair was inside the mall at the time of the shooting. She wrote in a tweet that she and 30 other women hid in a storage closet just after gunfire rung out.
Following the shooting in the food court, police checked the rest of the mall for additional witnesses and suspects; portions of the mall were closed.
Police said two of the three males taken into custody had to be taken to the hospital. One had injuries consistent with a physical fight, and the other appeared to have been grazed by a bullet, police said.
They have not released the names or ages of the suspects or what charges they will face.
Police said most of the stores in the shopping center remained open during their investigation. However, the food court and the area around it were closed off as police gathered evidence.