Instagram Post Triggers Gunman Panic At Fox Hills Mall

Shoppers at the Westfield Culver City mall (formerly the Fox Hills mall) fled for their lives on Saturday evening fearing an active gunman was loose. The police arrived and locked the mall down.

"A bunch of people came running through from the JC Penney side and indicated that there was a shooting going on," Shawn Davis, a witness at the scene, told KABC. "Nordstrom locked us in for about 30 minutes until it was safe. I came out and literally police officers and guns were everywhere."

The initial reports of a gunman were at 5:20 p.m. By 7:00 p.m., police determined the reports were unfounded.

“There was no evidence of shots fired, we couldn’t locate anyone credible who saw someone with a gun,” Culver City Police Sgt. Brandon Vanscoy said, reports the Los Angeles Times. “We spent a very long time clearing out the mall.”

So what happened? Seems an event posted to Instagram drew a large crowd of teens. According to KCBS, some said the event was calling on the teens to fight one another, but police would not confirm the claim.

"It was on Instagram that it was an event, an Instagram event," Allyson Floyd told KABC. "Everybody just came and people who saw their enemies fought each other."

The chaos of the group sparked panic among shoppers of a gunman. Point of the story is: don't start rumors, kids.