ATLANTA — Perimeter Mall reopened its doors Saturday morning just one day after a shootout between two men sent shoppers into panic.
And now, they'll be doing so with increased security measures in place to ensure the chaotic scene that happened early Friday evening doesn't happen again.
Officers responded to Perimeter Mall at 4:45 p.m. Friday in reference to a "shots fired" call. When officers arrived, they began canvassing the mall and found the victim on the lower level near the food court with a gunshot wound.
Detectives later confirmed that the man had been in an argument with another man, and when the other man pulled a gun and shot at him, he pulled his own gun and returned fire. Both men were struck and wounded.
Sgt. Michael Cheek with the Dunwoody Police Department said the man who fired first was arrested and charged.
A spokesperson with Brookfield Properties, who owns the Perimeter Mall property, released the following statement in part on Saturday:
"Last night's incident was senseless, and we remain grateful to our security vendor and also our partners at Dunwoody Police Department for their quick action and response."
The statement also said that while the mall does not openly discuss their protocols with the public, they confirmed that there is both added security and police presence at the mall beginning on Saturday, in addition to an on-site K9.
Shoppers at the mall described the chaos that broke out inside the mall.
"We heard rapid fire shots, about five to six of them," said Nancy Myerson, a shopper at the mall. She said she and her husband, Sammy Carden, ran into the backroom of the Victoria's Secret store, with dozens of others, and hid. And they posted on social media, trying to get someone to tell them if it was safe to leave.
"Everyone was just more concerned because there were no windows, so we couldn’t see what was going on and we didn’t know what was happening," Myerson said. "It makes you want to, just, go online to buy your products and not gingerly shop for lingerie in a mall when something like this happened on just a random Friday."
Dunwoody Police said its investigation remains ongoing.