51ºÚÁÏ

There were no injuries reported, according to Des Peres police.

Although there were multiple reports from people at the mall who said they heard loud popping noises, Des Peres police said their investigation did not find evidence of gunfire.

Instead, they said, a review of mall surveillance video showed one of the people throwing a chair at another person during the fight.

There was also another report of a truck backfiring in the mall garage off Interstate 270, though that was unsubstantiated, said Des Peres public safety Chief Eric Hall in a statement.

One person in the fight was interviewed by police and provided a statement but said they didn’t wish to prosecute if police identified the other people involved, Hall’s statement said.

Jalil Lofton, who works at the H&M clothing store next to the food court, was shaken by the chaos. He said he heard what sounded like gunshots and saw people start running. He called the police just before 2:20 p.m.

“I told everybody to go to the back,� he said. “We barricaded the door.�

About 20 employees and shoppers stayed huddled in the storage room until they got the all-clear from police, he said. They ran outside. The mall was reopened shortly after 3 p.m., he said.

“It was definitely a scary situation,� he said. “I was trying to make sure everyone was safe.�

A woman who was at the food court with her teenage granddaughter said the court was packed with customers when they heard what sounded like gunshots. They dropped to the floor as others fled to nearby stores and ducked behind walls.

“It was mass hysteria, because we thought it was gunshots,� the woman said. “That’s what we heard.�

The mall reopened less than an hour after police responded. People were shopping and eating in the food court as usual, although some stores including H&M had closed for the day.

There have been three shootings at the Des Peres mall in the last six years.

A man was fatally shot in July 2021 inside Champs Sports, an athletic footwear store on the first floor of the center, during a fight between two men. The charges were dropped after a jury ruled the shooting was in self-defense.

In April 2021, a gunman fired a shot on the second floor near the center of the mall during an altercation between two groups of people who knew each other, police said. No one was injured in the shooting.

In 2019, an off-duty 51ºÚÁÏ police officer accidentally fired a shot while chasing suspected shoplifters into the parking garage of the shopping center. The bullet hit the pavement and there were no injuries.

Katie Kull, David Carson and Sarah Gassen of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.