According to police and officials, panic erupted on Tuesday at a Long Island mall that was filled with holiday shoppers when an employee was shot during a robbery at a Tourneau store. This sparked a panicked stampede of shoppers, and the suspected shooter was taken in custody.
The gunfire came at a time when the country is already shaken by a series of mass shootings. Scores of officers rushed into the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, and the Nassau County police commissioner, Thomas C. Krumpter, said the overwhelming police response reflected those concerns. However, he explained that the situation was simply a robbery gone wrong and, by early evening, the mall had resumed normal operations.
It started around 1 p.m., when an armed man walked into the Tourneau jewelry store on the second floor of the mall and tried to steal a Rolex, the authorities said.
The frantic moments were captured on a cellphone video. The suspect, who was armed with a handgun, attempted to rob the Rolex section of the Tourneau store on the Roosevelt Field Mall’s main level, police said. Police said the perpetrator announced a robbery upon entering the Tourneau store. The robber’s efforts were hindered by a store security guard, police said. “While exiting the store, he was struggling with the store security,” said Acting Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter.
“The shooter was apprehended and is in custody of the Nassau County Police Department,” said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. “They continue to investigate the matter as to whether anyone else may be involved.”
In the struggle with the security guard just outside the Tourneau store, police said the gun went off, striking a mall employee in the shoulder. The 67-year-old man was hospitalized in serious but stable condition late Tuesday. Moments later, a suspect was seen being taken away in handcuffs. The single gunshot set in motion an instant and massive police response.
The shooting occurred on a busy afternoon just three days before Christmas, with the nation still jittery about mass shootings following massacres in San Bernardino, California, and Paris. Jessica Julig, of Queens, told the Associated Press she was shopping when employees suddenly told her to stay down and move to the back of the store. “I was shaking,” she said. “People were screaming and then I started to feel the whole mall shake. “She said she looked out and “saw people running everywhere.”
Shopper Katie Brewer said that people were scared, and there was confusion over whether there was a shooter in the mall. She said she was shaken up and planned to get home as soon as she could.
Mall security subdued the gunman and took his gun, and an off-duty NYPD officer who was shopping in the mall, Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr, jumped in to help keep the shooter down, the NYPD confirmed. Police then arrived and took the suspect into custody. He is being questioned at this time, authorities said.
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