COLUMBIA, S.C. — "There were shell casings everywhere, there was glass everywhere from where they had done shot out the windows and there was blood everywhere," said mall shooting witness, Josh Kingsmore.
This is the scene that Kingsmore described moments after three men started shooting, as he and his family were escaping from the Columbiana Centre Mall on Saturday.
His wife Candice Kingsmore was inside Belk with their children when the shots rang out, and she says her family is still shaken up.
"It was terrifying... the kids don't want to go back to the mall, they said we are ordering things off of Amazon now," the mother of three said.
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At a press conference on Monday, Chief Skip Holbrook with the Columbia Police Department described also Saturday's events, calling the situation shocking.
" At a public mall would we expect violence? Absolutely not," Holbrook said. "This was a tragic event... Three guys came in and fired shots and hit 9 people."
Chief Holbrook says his officers train for situations like this frequently. He says they would normally put extra boots on the ground for major events, or if they were alerted to something happening. In this case, Holbrook says there was no way of knowing.
"We do believe that this was a happened circumstance that occurred with these individuals, but because of an ongoing dispute and the fact that they all were armed, emotions took over and weapons were discharged and innocent people got hurt in the crossfire," the police chief explained.
Officers say they encourage business owners to reach out and partner with them in the future to keep their area secure. Columbia PD says this will also make response time and investigations easier for them.
If you know have any pictures, videos, or information about what happened on Saturday at Columbiana Centre, call Columbia PD's special tip line at (803) 545- 3525.