COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Columbiana Centre Mall had a calm evening in comparison to what people saw Saturday afternoon after a shooting left a dozen people injured.
Columbia Police investigators say shots were fired just after 2 p.m. inside the busy shopping center, sending people fleeing from the gunshots. A total of 14 people were injured: 9 from the gunfire, with 5 others who were injured as people ran for safety.
Police say one suspect has been arrested and there is a search for two others.
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With the exception of a few stores open, the mall was much different Saturday night than it had been when Daniel Johnson was there in the mid-afternoon.
"There's a ride in there that seats four people that's right in the middle of the food court, and I thought it was making the noise, but when I looked to my right and saw that it wasn't then I just saw all these people rushing in my peripheral," Johnson recalled.
He says his family was in town celebrating his son's birthday and decided to check out a few of the local malls. Johnson says they were enjoying a meal in the food court when the chaos started.
"I kind of heard the shots and when I looked I just saw this crowd of people running and that's when I grabbed my family and we got out," he said.
After the crowds of people were evacuated from the mall, police dedicated space at a nearby Fairfield Inn hotel where families could reunite.
As people found their loved ones the traffic and police presence slowly went away.
Prabhakar Sharma says his family was supposed to be at the mall for an appointment around the time the shooting happened. He says being late may have saved his family's lives.
"You hate not being to things on time, but sometimes it's fortunate to be late, and that I could say for today," Sharma said.
The mall is still closed while investigators search for more evidence and storefronts are cleaned up.