One Year Later: Police concerns lead to action taken by Simon Properties at Ross Park Mall
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Fear of a mass casualty event hit Ross Park Mall one year ago this weekend.
The peace of a busy Saturday afternoon was shattered by reports of shots fired and people hiding and running.
So, what really happened that day and what has happened since?
There was confusion and panic along with a huge police response -- and while fortunately, no one was hurt, fear ran through the mall that afternoon.
Those who were there will never forget the moment.
The panic was prompted by a fight in the middle of the mall, but were shots actually fired?
"We don't have any ballistic evidence or any forensic evidence that confirms that a shot was fired. No spent shell casings were found, no bullet strikes were found," said Ross Township Police Detective Sergeant Brian Kohlhepp.
"We have ear witnesses who report hearing shots fired. We don't have any eyewitnesses," Kohlhepp said.
As for eyewitnesses, Kohlhepp says police have a number of them who say they watched the entire incident unfold and never saw a single shot fired.
Kohlhepp suspects glass cases that were knocked over sounded to some like shots being fired. He says it was two groups who had bad blood and ran into each other at the mall.
"They started to fight and some of the individuals who were there were carrying weapons, which did fall out onto the floor as part of this as part of the fight," Kohlhepp said.
Juvenile suspects were arrested later, but in court, there were issues with identifying them as being involved.
After that, charges were dismissed.
What wasn't dismissed was the complaint Ross Township Police made that day after officers went into a potentially dangerous situation blind because the mall had no cameras, which added to the confusion.
Police pulled no punches about the situation, not happy with the fact that they had no way to see what they were walking into.
"Our Chief of Police has even sent letters I believe two or three times to Simon corporate urging them to put cameras either inside or outside the mall. They've continually refused to do that in days like this for why we have asked them over and over to do so," Kohlhepp said.
Fortunately, there were no shots fired during the fight and no one was hurt, and Kohlhepp says the incident got through to Simon Properties.
"I have to give a ton of credit to Simon Properties and Ross Park Mall, they not only installed cameras, they did it right," Kohlhepp said.
A security specialist company was hired and the mall was wired.
"They really did it right. There's more cameras up there that I don't even know the number of cameras," Kohlhepp said.
Ross Township Police have access to the cameras that are wired into Simon's headquarters in Indianapolis, that are monitored 24 hours per day.
In a statement, Simon Properties says:
Ross Park Mall and South Hills Village have completed the installation of CCTV cameras throughout the malls and mall properties. This is an added measure to our extensive security program that is in place to provide a safe shopping environment for customers, retailers and employees." – Simon Property Group
While he leveled criticism last year, Kohlhepp is now overflowing with his praise of Ross Park Mall, not only with the installation of the cameras, but for their overall security efforts.
