Police searching NC mall after reports of shots fired amid holiday shopping

Danielle Chemtob

Pineville Police said Wednesday night they were investigating reports of shots fired inside Carolina Place Mall, which was packed with last-minute shoppers on Christmas Eve.

As of 6:30 p.m., police said, there were no reports of injuries or victims. A suspect has not been located yet either. The mall is being cleared and is closed.

“We’re going to continue to treat this as an active shooter until we can determine otherwise,” said Lt. Corey Copley with Pineville police. “We’re methodically searching within Carolina Place Mall section by section.”

Emergency personnel fill a parking lot area at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, NC on Thursday, December 24, 2020.
Emergency personnel fill a parking lot area at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, NC on Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Copley said police do not have evidence of shots being fired but “we are treating it as if shots have been fired.” Authorities received more than a dozen 911 calls reporting shots fired.

One witness told reporters in the parking lot of the mall afterward that she hid in a closet inside a store with fellow employees.

”They said people were shooting,” said Lachay Harvell, a Belk employee. “All I did was run.”

Harvell said she was concerned as the store employees took cover because her mother and son were on their way to the mall on Thursday night. Later, she said, police arrived and ushered people outside to safety.

Another witness who was in the mall described the chaotic scene as security personnel tried to get people out of the mall. “Everyone was moving fast, moving to the door.... People running all in the parking lot,” said Aaron Harris. “It got to be a mess.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which is helping in the case, urged people to avoid the area. There are police from multiple jurisdictions on the scene, Copley said, and officers established a command post at the site.

The parking lot at Sam’s Club was being used as a reunification area. It is at 11425 Carolina Place Parkway, with access off of Park Road.

Traffic around the mall is clogged. The mall is in a busy commercial area, in the town of Pineville, just south of Charlotte, near Interstate 485.

Emergency personnel fill a parking lot area at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, NC on Thursday, December 24, 2020.
Emergency personnel fill a parking lot area at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, NC on Thursday, December 24, 2020.

This is not the first time a local mall has dealt with reports of a shooting on Christmas Eve. In 2015, at crowded Northlake Mall in north Charlotte, shots were fired between two groups, and an off-duty officer at the scene shot and killed one of the alleged gunmen. No charges were filed against the officer.

Last year, a 24-year-old Charlotte man was shot and killed at Carolina Place, following what authorities at the time described as a fight inside a store. Khali Amir Holmes died in the shooting and police arrested another man in his death but his lawyer has said he acted in self-defense.

Observer videographer Jeff Siner and editors Adam Bell, Anna Douglas and Rogelio Aranda contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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