Chicago Ridge Mall Evacuated And Closed After Reports Of A Food Fight, Shots Fired
The Chicago Ridge Mall was fully evacuated and closed on Saturday evening after reports of shots being fired and a possible food fight had broken out. The mall in the southwest suburb of Chicago was said to be “jam-packed” with shoppers, but everyone had to leave after the fight erupted in the food court.
WGNTV reported that the incident at the Chicago Ridge Mall happened around 6 p.m. in the evening.
Numerous police officers responded to the mall and caught a fight in progress over in the food court. As they were heading out to the so-called food fight, they received a new report of shots fired, which brought in more officers from different jurisdictions.
A statement released by the police said that many were involved in the fight.
“Several groups previously within the food court area had begun to go into the mall area.”
Per the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Ridge Mayor Chuck Tokar said that even thought the fight had broken out at the mall and was rather large, there were no injuries and no arrests.
Tokar said, “Somehow a fight broke out in the food court” and “escalated” from there. Even though the police received reports of shots fired, the mayor said that there were none. There were no weapons involved.”
The police did confirm the mayor’s statement of no injuries, but they are continuing their investigation “regarding the allegations of shots fired.” Somehow, that report made it to the police, and they are going to check all angles before just dismissing it.
Twitter is buzzing about the fight at the Chicago Ridge Mall, but no one seems to be able to get a straight answer as to what exactly happened. Some are saying that it was a food fight while others are saying there was a shooting, and others are saying nothing happened at all.
Apparently whoever reported the incident lied about it being a shooting. *side eye* #chicagoridgemall
— The Little Mermaid (@ArielJeanine) December 28, 2014
Everyone in the mall that was running: smart. All the kids standing around taking videos: stupid. #chicagoridgemall
— Talore (@TaloreGalore) December 28, 2014
Mayor Tokar said that he was happy the incident didn’t happen “when the mall was at its peak” in the week before Christmas.
Kris Ames, the operations director at the mall, said that the Chicago Ridge Mall was going to be open on Sunday and operating at normal hours.
Chicago Ridge Mall was set to close at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening, but after the food court fight and reports of shots fired, patrons had to leave early. It’s the second big fight in the area in two days as a brawl broke out at Navy Pier on Friday night.
[Image via Donna Vickroy – South Town Start]
