Two Juveniles Arrested, Three Guns Taken From Scene At Ross Park Mall Shooting
ROSS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) - Ross Township Police believe a total of six people got involved in a fight inside the mall near guest services.
Guns were drawn and chaos quickly followed when a busy shopping day came to a screaming halt.
Ross Township Police will now rely on cell phone video that captured the fight with people thrown to the ground, punches flying, and guns pulled.
WATCH: Cell Phone Video Captures Fight At Ross Park Mall
Ross Park Mall Fight
"It did occur inside the mall, and it was near the guest services area, I believe it was on the second floor," said Detective Brian Kohlhepp of the Ross Township Police.
Detective Kohlhepp tells KDKA that two armed 17-year-old males were arrested and they are from the Pittsburgh area.
"The three firearms were taken from the 2 juvenile males," he said.
Ross Township Police say that the two juveniles will be charged as such and cannot say if they were linked to the shots fired inside of the mall.
As for how many gunshots rang out, police plan to search for shell casings on the mall floor.
"We have statements from a couple of witnesses that heard 1-3 shots, we have statements from some witnesses that didn't hear any shots, so we're guessing there was probably 1-3 shots fired although we're still looking for evidence to support that," Kohlhepp explained.
Lisa Cioppa was inside Express shopping with her daughters when the incident happened. "All of a sudden I heard a stampede of people, and I didn't know what was going on," Cioppa said.
They grabbed other shoppers and hid in the dressing room. "So scared, I mean you hear all this stuff, and you don't think it's going to happen to you and then it happened," Cioppa said.
There were also reported gunshots in the neighboring community.
"We were able to get there and check, but we weren't able to substantiate shots fired or locate anyone who may have been involved in that incident away from the mall," Kohlhepp said.
Despite the chaos, no one wound up injured in the fight or racing out of the mall to safety.
Meanwhile, Ross Township Police are pleading with Simon Properties to install security cameras, saying they find themselves at a tactical and investigative disadvantage because Simon Properties will not install cameras.
Instead, police are relying on the big box stores and their cameras as well as information from eyewitnesses.
KDKA has reached out to Simon Properties to inquire about the camera issue and awaiting a response.