Memorial City Mall Shooting Reports Spurred by Panic: False Alarm Creates a Chaotic, Scary Scene

In many ways, it’s the nightmare of modern American life. The idea that you could be out somewhere shopping, seeing a movie, visiting the mall Santa Claus and a mass shooting could break out.

A chaotic, panicked scene at Memorial City Mall on Saturday night showed just how top of mind that scenario is for many of us. When reports of a potential “active shooter” at the mall hit Twitter at 7:45 p.m. in the midst of the busy Christmas shopping season, pure chaos reigned. Stores in the mall went on lockdown, people fled for the parking lots, some shoppers barricaded themselves in bathrooms and movie theaters were evacuated.

You cannot blame anyone. In a time when a premium cable network has a series dedicated solely to examining mass shootings in America, being safe rather than sorry probably should be everyone’s first response.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm at Memorial City Mall. Apparently, a smash-and-grab robbery at Ben Bridge Jeweler where a common criminal shattered a glass case with a hammer produced loud enough noises that they were mistaken for gunshots.

By 9 p.m., Houston police chief Art Acevedo tweeted that the active shooter reports had been “confirmed to be false.”

Acevedo deserves plenty of credit for trying to stem the panic as quickly as possible. There have been other false alarm incidents around the country where local police weren’t nearly this forthcoming this fast.

This quick update came despite a scene that the police initially described as “pretty big chaos.” An army of police cars and several police helicopters responded to the initial Memorial City Mall shooting reports. The sheer number of flashing lights could be seen far down the I-10 freeway.

As the false reports spread on Twitter — everything spreads on Twitter first these days — Houstonians frantically called their loved ones to make sure they weren’t out shopping at Memorial, one of the region’s most crowded malls. Knowing that I had planned to take my kids to Target, my wife called to make sure we hadn’t gone to the Target in that mall. And she was calling from the Chronicle newsroom.

No one really knew what was going on. How quickly the active shooter reports spread probably says something. But right now, it’s mostly just a time to thankful that they were false and everyone who had been at Memorial City Mall is all right.