AVENTURA, FL — Aventura police are asking for the public's help in getting to the bottom of Saturday night's apparent hoax involving reports of a shooting at Aventura Mall. The incident caused one of the largest malls in the United States to be evacuated on one of busiest shopping days before Christmas. The incident occurred around 7 p.m.
"Police Officers from the city of Aventura and multiple surrounding agencies were immediately dispatched to the
scene," explained Sgt. Chis Goranitis of the Aventura Police Department early Sunday evening. "This incident resulted in the evacuation of the mall and caused heavy traffic delays for several hours as holiday shoppers exited the area."
Goranitis said that police found no evidence that a shooting occurred at the mall. Similar incidents have been reported at the Dolphin Mall and Westland Mall in recent months.
"There were no victims of any shooting located and all investigatable leads have resulted in no indication of any
shooting or gunfire within the mall," Goranitis said. "The Aventura Police Department is continuing this investigation."
Aventura police are asking for anyone with information on Saturday's incident to call 305-466-8989.
A video from inside the mall posted to Twitter showed shoppers running towards the parking lot. One person reported hearing "two different sets of loud bangs."
Patch editor Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this article.
Photo by Paul Scicchitano
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