911 calls from Crabtree Valley illustrate Black Friday scare
New 911 calls illustrate the panic shoppers felt at Crabtree Valley Mall on Black Friday when a noisy, chaotic scene broke out.
Despite rumors, Raleigh police said no shots were fired at the mall on Nov. 24. Instead, the loud noise that alarmed shoppers was a large paper scroll that fell from the second floor of the mall to the first floor in the midst of a pro-Palestine protest.
Officers responded around 10:07 a.m. to the mall at 4325 Glenwood Ave.
In new 911 calls, one caller told the operator she didn't know what was going on, but she saw a lot of people are running.
After a few minutes of chatting back and forth with mall security and the 911 operator, the woman learned from a store manager no shots were fired.
The caller said responding officers knelt when they heard the loud noise. Police said no one was injured.
"We've got a big protest at Crabtree," one caller said. "Possibly, a bunch of people ... We've got a big crowd."
"We have an active protest on the second floor next to Michael Kors," another caller said.
On Black Friday, a witness told WRAL News she thought she heard at least three gunshots inside the mall and saw people running.
Video of pro-Palestine protesters
Someone shared a video from protesters inside the mall. He told WRAL News that the source of the loud sound came from when the protesters dropped a huge scroll from the second floor to the first floor of the mall.
The paper scroll stretched well onto the first floor.
On Friday, the protesters were outside the Michael Kors store on the second floor of the mall just above Kanki Japanese House of Steaks and Sushi.
Many people are wondering if charges will be filed after the Black Friday chaos.
Irving Joyner, a professor of law at N.C. Central University, said until there is proof that the protest is connected to the panic, it will be difficult to file charges.
"It is possible charges could be filed if there is evidence there was a disruption without consent of the owners of the property," Joyner said. "But, owners would have to file a complaint with the magistrate and identify the people who are responsible for this conduct that might have occurred."
Shoppers, former WRAL reporter recount frightening moments during Crabtree Valley Mall incident
A mother-daughter shopping trip turned from fun to fear Friday morning. Former WRAL reporter Sloane Heffernan and her daughter were at Crabtree Valley Mall when the commotion began.
Her daughter was the first to notice what was happening. She said she saw a few people running, and that's when hordes of people started running.
"The first thing I saw when I knew something was wrong was this massive [group] of people running toward the food court," Heffernan said. "Then, all of the sudden, you heard pow, pow, pow.
"People were making a mad dash out of that mall."
That's when Heffernan and her daughter exited the mall through the Starbucks next to the food court on the second floor.
"When we turned around and there was no exit there, that's when I was just like, 'Are we going to have to hide under the counter at the Starbucks? I don't know where to go."
Heffernan said as they were running out, her daughter was saying "I want to go home. Where do we go?"
Shopper Amina Kaissi took a video of people running from the mall.
"What is happening?" someone said in Kaissi's video.
"It was scary," Heffernan said. "I hate that this is the world [my daughter is ] growing up in."
"Sheer panic," said witness Michele Pendergraft of the scene. "Hundreds of people that were running on the concourse of the mall."
Earlier this year: Man accidentally shoots himself at Crabtree Valley Mall
A man accidentally shot himself on Feb. 25 at Crabtree Valley Mall. He was cited with discharging a firearm in the city limits and carrying a concealed weapon.
No one else was injured in the shooting.
Black Friday shootings in central NC
Last year, one person was shot inside a Walmart in Lumberton and two were shot at Greenville Mall in Greenville.
In 2021, three people were shot at The Streets at Southpoint shopping center.
