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Reports have come out on social media of a shooting at a Florida mall, believed to be The Florida Mall in Orlando, just a day after reports of a shooting at the Dolphin Mall, which are now believed to be a hoax, made headlines. While early reports did not mention people being injured in the shooting, there have been reports of evacuations at the location.
What do we know so far?
A Twitter user identified as “Braиdoии” or “BrandxWulf” issued the following statements over the shooting:
“No one go to Fl Mall!! Everyone is evacuating from Crayola running out the stores”
“Fl Mall shooting, do not go there. Traffic is bad. I’m here trying to leave now”
Most early reports of the shooting simply identified the mall as simply being a “Florida mall;” another Twitter user identified as Tungsten hexafluoride identified the mall as “The Florida Mall,” which is located in Orlando:
“APPARENTLY SOMEONE IS SHOOTING AT THE FLORIDA MALL I JUST RAN FOR MY LIFE”
Another Twitter user identified as “lex” also issued the following:
“One minute im shopping and the next im running for my life.. idk what exactly is happening but i hope everyone is okay #floridamallshooting”
Later reports claim the incident was not a shooting, but a distraction using fireworks
On Twitter, a user identified as RickWNDRS, who claims to work at the mall, confirmed that the situation had not been a shooting:
“I work here at Florida Mall. All should be okay. I’m hearing everything is clear but you should still stay away from the mall. A shooting did not happen. Did not.”
UPDATE: According to The Orlando Sentinel, the incident was believed to be caused by fireworks that were set off as a distraction during a jewelry store theft, as confirmed by a local sheriff; eleven people were injured trying to leave the area, with five being transported to local hopsitals, but the remaining six refusing treatment. At this time, mall operations were returned to normal.
