Shoppers at Southlake Mall on “Black Friday” began fleeing after they thought they heard gunshots, Morrow police said.
But the loud pops Friday afternoon came from a Taser that officers said they had to deploy after a man causing a disturbance threatened to “shoot the place up.”
Officers were called to the Clayton County mall shortly before 3 p.m. and encountered a 31-year-old man they believed was having a mental health crisis, according to authorities. Police added that the man was making threats and acting as if he were armed near the upper entrance to the Macy’s store inside the mall.
When the man began to reach for something in his waistband while covering his mid-section with a shoebox, police said officers gave several orders for him to reveal his hands and drop the box. The man failed to comply, according to police, and a Clayton officer “smacked” the box out of the man’s hands and a Morrow officer deployed his Taser.
“Due to the loud pops of the Taser deployments, customers inside/near Macy’s believed that someone was shooting and fled the store,” police said. “Customers were assured that they were safe and they re-entered the store.”
Miscommunication with Clayton County’s E-911 center resulted in a “shots fired” call and multiple neighboring agencies responded to the scene, police said. Morrow police advised dispatch that no gunfire had occurred and additional officers were only needed for crowd control. That information did not reach responding officers soon enough, resulting in units flooding into the mall and making the situation appear worse.
The man was taken into custody and is facing two counts of terroristic threats toward mall security and two counts of obstruction. While he was being interviewed about the incident, police said he spat in a Morrow officer’s face, which led to a simple battery charge.
The man was not found to be in possession of any weapons at the time of the incident, police said.
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