Two fights cause chaos at The Mills at Jersey Gardens mall

🚨 Two separate fights around the same time caused people to exit the mall

🚨 The were no guns fired during the incident

🚨 A teen was charged with disorderly conduct

ELIZABETH — Fights and panic broke out at a New Jersey mall for the third time in the past four weekends.

Two separate fights started around the same time at the Mills at Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth on Sunday evening, according to city spokeswoman Ruby Contreras.

Separate fights prompted chaos at Elizabeth mall

One fight was between store employees and the second was between shoppers. Contreras said police determined no shots were fired during either incident. The sound of store security gates being closed echoing around the mall make have been mistaken for gunfire.

Video shows the mall emptied as shoppers ran for the exits. One video showed people running on the lower level and others milling around waiting for stores to reopen. Another video shows tables with plates of food left behind after customers left.

"Somebody ran and then everybody ran," someone said in the video.

Contreras said a juvenile was charged was disorderly conduct.  The mall was never locked down and most retailers reopened with 15 minutes.

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Rowdy behavior at malls

It’s the fourth weekend in a row that there have been fights or a threat to malls.

Around 300 teens converged on the Menlo Park Mall in Edison in response to a post on social media on May 18 that led to the arrest of seven teens. More teens came to a carnival in the parking lot of Woodbridge Center the following weekend, yelling and screaming inside and outside the mall.

Bridgewater police successfully thwarted a gathering at Bridgewater Commons that was promoted online for May 30. The mall implemented a temporary restriction on anyone under 18 from being at the mall that afternoon.

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