This Saturday September 14 was a normal day. I woke up at 7 am to prepare to go to work at Express Clothing in the Town Center Mall. Everything was going well, people were shopping, and the associates were helping customers and organizing the store. Around 4:30 pm some customers were asking why stores were closing and talking about a mall lockdown. We didn’t know what was going on and I immediately called my mom and told her not to come pick me up. We managed to evacuate by 5:20 pm. One of my managers gave me a ride home. Thankfully the threat was only a swatting call (an illegal prank call where an anonymous caller says that there is a fake emergency and accuses someone of a crime). In this case, it was that a popular streamer named Clix was accused of having guns and explosives in his car. All of this information was found at Boca News Now.
Although this was not a real threat, I could see people walking normally outside of the store minutes before we evacuated. The police were not doing a good job of informing people that there was a possible threat in the mall. It seems that with all of the threats made, a better plan would be in place.
My manager was informed that the mall was in lockdown, not by an authority official, but due to a customer who came into the store asking about a message they got talking about the matter. Customers were confused, just like the associates who were trying to figure out what was happening. Associates and I were speculating with the customers. It wasn’t until I heard the words, “criminal in the mall,” that I understood what the situation was about. We managed to get more information from the police’s Twitter/X. We saw that customers were being led out of the mall through the south exit of the mall so we informed the customers that were still inside the store that they could leave.
Since we worked at the mall, we didn’t know if we also had to leave or stay. So we just decided to stay in our store for a couple of minutes until we finally got asked to evacuate by the police. We left through the back and I felt very tense.
I’ve never been in a situation like this, and even though it was fake, it still had a huge impact on me. Even today, I still feel very stressed by it. I always knew the phrase “Life is short.” We all do. It’s something that people use often, both to motivate others and themselves. But this motivational phrase has an ominous feeling for me now. This entire situation truly showed me that I can’t keep waiting for later, and that the time to do the stuff I really want to do is now more than ever.
As my main takeaway from this article: don’t spread information that hasn’t been confirmed, even if you think it’s important to know. For example, while we were waiting to see what to do, one of the associates I worked with mentioned that the supposed shooter came from Forever 21. Keep in mind that I work in front of Forever 21. So this alarmed me a lot. But thankfully it wasn’t real and something they heard from a friend on the phone.
Only state information that’s official, like information from the official police account or news. Don’t take your information from social media because it probably comes from people who were panicking and didn’t realize the information they gave was inaccurate.
And last but not least, mall security should consider having better communication with their store. This is super important so managers can inform their customers and workers of the situation and plan accordingly. Luckily, there wasn’t a massive panic in my store. We all remained calm and waited for more information to come out.
Here is a website that talks about other procedures in more detail.
