Shoppers unsettled by shooting at Perimeter Mall

A shooting at Perimeter Mall has shaken up shoppers.

It happened Monday when police say a security officer followed a man suspected of stealing something from the Sunglass hut inside of Macy's.

That's when investigators say the suspected their fired shots at the security officer.

FOX5's Alex Whittler spoke to several people who say they only shop at Perimeter Mall now because of an increase in violence reported at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza. They acknowledge violence at shopping malls has increased across the country, but they say that doesn’t make Monday’s mall shooting any less disappointing.

Timothy Jennings stays at a Dunwoody hotel annually for a youth competition. 

"It's a great mall for kids, especially rural kids from South and North Georgia to visit the big city of Atlanta," he said.

He says hundreds of kids walk from that hotel to the mall's food court to hang out when in town.

"In a few hours we're going to have 400 kids heading over here for something to eat so the safety of those kids is paramount," he said.

That's why he says the arrest of a suspected mall shooter wasn't enough to stop him from tagging along with those kids when they have free time.

Police say a man stole something from the Sunglass hut inside the Macy’s at perimeter Monday.

Mall security followed the suspect and police say he fired several shots at a security officer, who was not hurt.

Some shoppers say the disruption reminds them of other area malls.

"It's the violence making its way in from the city," Jack Blair said.

Another startling situation between security and a gun-wielding man happened back in December 2020.

Police say one of the three suspected shoplifters pulled a gun on a loss prevention officer. They all got away. 

Dunwoody police say mall security follows rules and regulations laid out by the mall’s owner, and they don’t provide guidance as to how those officers should respond to certain incidents.

There were no reported injuries and Dunwoody police caught the suspect shortly after shots were fired.

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