{"id":190300,"date":"2025-08-31T23:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T23:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/190300\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T23:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T23:56:14","slug":"shoppers-at-ny-mall-mistake-umbrella-for-ar-15-rifle-prompting-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/190300\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoppers at NY mall mistake umbrella for AR-15 rifle, prompting lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shoppers at New York state\u2019s largest mall were thrown into panic on Thursday <\/a>after a man carrying an umbrella sparked fears of an active shooter, police said.<\/p>\n

The scare began around 3:20 p.m. when 911 calls flooded in about a man carrying what appeared to be an AR-15-style rifle<\/a> inside the Destiny USA shopping and entertainment complex in Syracuse.<\/p>\n

A second caller said the suspect slung the \u201cweapon\u201d on his shoulder and appeared to cock it.<\/p>\n

Within minutes, officers swarmed the area, backed by drones and a sheriff\u2019s helicopter on standby.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice said a black umbrella with a samurai-style handle was mistaken for a rifle, sparking panic at Destiny USA. Syracuse Police Department \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

By 4:04 p.m., a detective monitoring security cameras spotted the man on an escalator inside Destiny USA and tailed him into the food court near the 110 Grill.<\/p>\n

Dispatchers reported a possible gunshot in the canyon area, but officers quickly confirmed no shots had been fired. Police locked down the mall as crowds of shoppers bolted for the exits.<\/p>\n

At 4:10 p.m., cops detained the man and discovered the \u201crifle\u201d was in fact a black umbrella with a samurai-style handle. He was questioned and released without charges after fully cooperating with law enforcement officials, police said.<\/p>\n

The mall reopened after about 45 minutes, but the incident underscored just how tense Americans have become over mass shootings.<\/p>\n

\"DestinyDestiny USA, New York\u2019s largest mall, was locked down for nearly an hour after 911 callers reported a possible active shooter. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Just a day earlier, a gunman opened fire during morning Mass<\/a> at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, killing two children and wounding 15 others before taking his own life.<\/p>\n

The attacker, 23-year-old Robin Westman, legally bought multiple firearms <\/a>and left behind a manifesto filled with hate and specific intent to target children.<\/p>\n

Authorities are investigating the massacre as both a domestic terrorism act and an anti-Catholic hate crime<\/a>, while community leaders have mobilized mental health resources and heightened security at schools and churches citywide.<\/p>\n

The day before, another Minneapolis shooting left one man dead and six hurt outside a high school.<\/p>\n

New York City was also shaken last month when a gunman stormed a Midtown Manhattan office tower, killing five, including an NYPD officer, before turning the gun on himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shoppers at New York state\u2019s largest mall were thrown into panic on Thursday after a man carrying an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":190301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,106443,53474,16482,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,58073,4695,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-190300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-hoaxes","10":"tag-lockdown","11":"tag-mass-shootings","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-shopping-malls","19":"tag-syracuse","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115126087480080604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}