With the shopping frenzy at an all-time high as Christmas Day approaches, emotions are riding high at some of America’s malls, where fights have broken out between customers.
American shoppers spent a record $34.4billion on Super Saturday, the biggest single day in American retail history, according to Bloomberg News.
‘Paced by the ‘Big Four’ mega-retailers – Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target – Super Saturday was boosted by the best traffic our team has seen in years,’ said Craig Johnson, president of the retail research firm Customer Growth Partners.
Johnson attributed the spending splurge to the strong economy, job growth, and disposable income.
Super Saturday beat Black Friday’s mark of $31.2billion in sales, a 10 per cent jump.
Dramatic video footage from Cordova Mall in Pensacola, Florida, on Saturday showed a group of teenagers brawling right next to where children line up to meet Santa Claus
Police are examining video and talking to witnesses in an effort to track down at least eight boys involved in the brawl
While some shoppers enjoyed their buying experience, others got into fights.
Dramatic video footage from Cordova Mall in Pensacola, Florida, on Saturday showed a group of teenagers brawling right next to where children line up to meet Santa Claus.
The Pensacola Police Department is analyzing video and interviewing witnesses as part of evidence-gathering activities that could lead to arrests, WEAR-TV reported.
Amateur video recorded on witnesses’ cell phone was provided to the TV station on Saturday.
The clip shows about eight teenage boys kicking and punching each other.
The brawl led to damage to the mall’s Christmas display.
‘I thought there was going to be gunshots in the mall,’ said Tamori Jackson, a mall employee who mans a nearby kiosk located just a few feet away from the spot where the brawl broke out.
Amateur video shows a fight break out in front of a Macy’s department store at a mall in Indianapolis on Sunday
Several security guards and police officers broke up the right at the Castleton Square mall
Jackson said the fight started in a hat store and escalated into the center of the mall.
While there were no gunshots fired, Jackson said shoppers were gripped with fear.
‘I saw people praying under the kiosk because they were scared,’ Jackson said.
Mall security called the police, but the teens were gone before the cops arrived.
‘They all just ran,’ Isiah King, Jackson’s co-worker, said.
‘It was right in the center of the mall so there are four exits so they all just dipped.’
Video that went viral on social media shows a group of teens fighting at the Castleton Mall in Indianapolis on Sunday.
Meanwhile, police in Mobile, Alabama, released a photo of a man they say is suspected of shoplifting. The man’s gun fell as police were trying to arrest him and the weapon discharged a gunshot
Police say the incident took place at Dillard’s department store in Bel Air Mall
The video shows a security guard and two police officers trying to separate teens involved in a fight outside a Macy’s department store.
It is not known what caused the fight. There are no indications that an arrest was made.
On Monday, a gunshot was heard inside a Mobile, Alabama, mall after a police officer tried to detain a man for shoplifting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Police are searching for Jermiah Cecil Johnson, 28, who was being detained by police for allegedly shoplifting at The Shoppes at Bel Air Mall.
The officer confronted Johnson, who was said to be armed, inside a Dillard’s department store.
As Johnson was detained, a gun fell to the floor and discharged a single shot, it is alleged.
Johnson then escaped from the arresting officer and fled the scene.
New Jersey police on Monday responded to reports of gunshot at a mall in Elizabeth, but those reports turned out to be false. Nonetheless, panicked shoppers sprinted out of the mall
Meanwhile, police shot and killed a gunman on Monday outside a busy Phoenix mall filled with Christmas shoppers after he wounded two people during an attempted carjacking, authorities said.
The incident began when the attacker held a woman at gunpoint outside Desert Sky Mall and demanded she drive him someplace.
A bystander who heard her screams tried to help and was shot as she escaped, police spokeswoman Mercedes Fortune said.
A stray bullet hit a woman in another car.
Police say the gunman used the stolen car to hit a patrol vehicle and refused to stop.
He was shot and died at the scene,
A 56-year-old woman and a man in his 50s were transported to a hospital with gunshot wounds, fire officials said.
Both were expected to recover.
No officers or firefighters were injured.
The investigation is ongoing. No further details were released.
Alson on Monday, police were called to The Mills at Jersey Gardens mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after false reports of gunshots fired sparked a massive panic.
Police said that an incident was reported at around 2pm on Monday. Initial claims of shots fired proved to be false.