‘Unreal’: Gunfire in Independence Center Mall startles shoppers; police say none injured

Police were searching for a suspected gunman responsible for firing at least three shots inside the Independence Center Mall, prompting a panicked response from shoppers and drawing a large law enforcement presence on Labor Day.

No injuries were reported following a series of gunshots that were fired inside the shopping center around 3 p.m. Monday, Officer Jack Taylor, a department spokesman, said at the scene. Police investigators found three shell casings in a common area of the mall, Taylor said, and were still processing evidence at the crime scene.

Investigators were still working to identify the person or persons responsible for the incident as of late Monday afternoon, Taylor said. That process involved interviewing witnesses on scene as well as reviewing surveillance footage from within the mall.

Police were unsure of the circumstances surrounding the gunfire. It was still unclear whether a suspect was trying to shoot at someone or if the gunshots were directed into the air, Taylor said.

Still, Taylor added that the incident posed a great danger to the public, saying the event drew every available on-duty officer to the mall at one point. The Missouri State Highway Patrol was also called in for assistance with the call.

“You’re putting innocent people at risk by coming out and doing something like this,” Taylor said of the shooting. “Just leave the guns at home.”

The incident caused a brief lock down as shoppers were advised to shelter in place, though the mall was returning to business as usual by the evening as many stores had signaled they would stay open through the close of day, Taylor said. Police officers also worked with Independence Center management at one point to clear visitors out of the building.

In the mall parking lot on Monday afternoon, the Chafa family embraced as they reunited following a fearful experience inside.

Savanna Chafa said she was sitting outside of Dillard’s on a chair in the mall while her mother and sister were visiting Bath & Body Works. She said she was texting someone when, out of the blue, she heard three loud pops.

“At first I was a little confused. And then I heard it again,” Savanna Chafa said. She ran inside the store to find other shoppers confused and scared, she said, and her thoughts soon turned to her two-month-old daughter, who was being watched by her grandfather.

“It was so unreal,” she added.

Elsewhere in the mall, Christina Chafa, Savanna’s mother, and Amanda Chafa, her sister, heard the same volley of shooting and quickly saw people begin to panic. Christina Chafa described a terrifying experience as she wondered where her elder daughter was and whether she was OK.

“I made (Savanna) stay on the phone with me until I could see her in person, and made my husband stay on the phone with my youngest until I saw them,” Christina Chafa said. “We all got out alive and I’m thankful for that. I hope I never have to deal with that again.”

Last year, the mall announced it was hiring more security and setting stricter curfews in response to a string of shootings and fights carried out on their property. In one incident last year, a man was shot in the head as people in two vehicles fired at each other in the mall’s parking lot, according to police. Days earlier, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg inside the shopping center after an altercation involving several people.

Meanwhile this Labor Day weekend in Independence, organizers of SantaCaliGon Days announced “significant” security changes a year after three teens and a young adult were shot at the festival’s carnival. Organizers, for example, enclosed the carnival by a six-foot fence. The festival runs through 5 p.m. on Labor Day.