LIVE UPDATES: Deadly Shooting at Columbia Mall in Maryland

Fox News Insider ^ | January 25, 2014

[bamahead]

Police responded to an active shooting at Columbia Mall in Maryland shortly after 11:00 a.m. ET. Three people are confirmed dead and the mall remains on lockdown.

UPDATE, 12:40p ET: People inside the mall are being told to wait until they are escorted out. The scene is believes to be secure.

UPDATE, 12:34p ET: Randy Brooks, owner of Edward Arthur Jewelers at Columbia Mall, told Uma Pemmaraju that he heard a couple of pops and then saw people running. He said it appeared that the shooter had a shotgun and was killed, but police have not confirmed that. Brooks said others have reportedly been taken to the hospital.

[sickoflibs]

RE : “Our house, parents’ house, and DH’s work all 10 min from it.I had no idea until hubby came to parents’ tonight from work, who had been called by his mom in PA to see if he was OK. Any questions let me know. Police best here? They don’t do much!”

I am not that far from that mall myself.

I remember in the 1990s when it had two food courts, I liked the mall much better before it turned to a ritzy mega mall, and when Maryland had many other malls now closed.
I liked Hecht’s much better than Macy's which took its place.

My only question is : who was the shooter and what was his motive?

[workerbee]

Heck, I remember when it just about ALL it had was McDonald’s on the 2nd floor and the “fancy” restaurant at Woodward & Lothrop (”Woodies”).

Am I dating myself or what?!?

[sickoflibs]

RE: (Howard County) Police best here? They don’t do much!”

They got those black stealthy cop cars with the flat roof lights so drivers don't see them till its too late, as well as unmarked cars.

They are really good at sneaking around in them to issue speeding tickets.

On my waze app I can see how they pull some one over, then do it again a few miles up the road. Then switch sides to the lanes going the other way,
I clear them off the waze map frequently.

Last fall one was sitting in an unmarked car near my neighborhood and for fun I came up about a 1/2 mile behind him on side of road and pointed him out to oncoming cars. He couldnt see me because of a tree,

[sickoflibs]

RE :Heck, I remember when it just about ALL it had was McDonald’s on the 2nd floor and the “fancy” restaurant at Woodward & Lothrop (”Woodies”).

I don't recall that.

You see a supermarket is going up where the Rouse building was, against the Lake?

For decades they had the yearly Columbia fair and 4th July Fireworks there at Lakefront.

[bus man]

I want to hear from our Marylanders that they are okay as well.

Thank you for checking up on us, momtothree. I live in Howard County and go to the Columbia Mall fairly regularly, but I was not there today. I have several friends who were either en route to the Mall or were planning on going there today, but to my knowledge no one I know was there when it happened.

Almost every time I go to the Mall, I eat at the Food Court. I don't patronize Zumiez (I'm not in their target demographic) but I've certainly passed by it often enough. I know it's cliché, but I do have a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept that, yes, it can happen here.

[RedMDer]

In 73 or 74 my college friends and I were escorted from the county by their finest for ahem falling into the lake and fountain one night. Took us all the way to the Patapsco bridge on 40 :)

[the OlLine Rebel]

No, they always had food around the fountain, and a bit down toward erstwhile Hecht’s. In fact, I remember when that was Hochschild Kohn. I was just a tyke. They also had a Friendly’s downstairs that end, and Jade Palace for ages. Cannot remember where JP was, but never forget that circular jade green entranceway.

I miss the big sit-in McD’s. Can’t blame them for centralizing it, but miss the big MCD-only.

[the OlLine Rebel]

It’s happened before, just didn’t get national headlines when we are in a craze hoping every shooting is a mass murder.

A few years ago some gangbangers (in Kolumbia? NO!) got in a fight outside JCP and people died. Many years ago, I think before the huge renovation, an armored truck was robbed in the parking lot outside Sears (i.e., near mall entrance where the shooter was located today) and driver killed or such.

Oh, it happens. Kolumbiites just pretend it doesn’t in their oh-so-perfect diverse Heaven made by God Rouse.

[workerbee]

Oh geez, I forgot about Friendly’s! My grandmother always got a tuna boat and a Friendly cola, LOL! And Jade Palace is a vague memory, I know I never ate there but I seem to remember the green arch-like door (or windows?)

Did you ever go to Security Square mall — back when it was go-to-able? Sometimes I think I get my mall memories confused, but that’s where we would always go to the movies.

[bus man]

And some people wonder why I don’t bother moving out of a shithole like Laurel to someplace “nicer” like Columbia. Answer: a nice place (like Columbia 20 years ago) is just a shithole waiting to happen.

I mean no offense, but I'm not following your logic. If you have a choice between living in a current shithole and living in a future shithole, wouldn't it be better to pick the place that has not yet gone down the toilet?

Your reasons for staying in Laurel are your own, of course, and I wouldn't presume to try and tell you where you should live. I hope, for your sake, that the efforts to revitalize your town (like the big development across the street from the shell of the Laurel Mall) bear fruit, and the area becomes, shall we say, less stinky.

[caww]

I recall two apartments I had on Main Street communities....both I fixed up with just paint..a bit of outdoor carpet...some plants potted and white plastic furniture. You’d be surprised what happens in a community once just one person starts improvements, and they don’t need to be major.

I even had some guy who walked by my place, I didn’t know, leave a planted plant because he walked by it every day and just wanted to be a part of the improvement. My landlord was so impressed he hired painters to do the whole building....following that the neighbors across the street started improving their property...and it just continued.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Jade Palace was some kind of oriental, and it was white stucko. Had a big circular doorway bordered by “jade” tiles. Very cool, but I don’t think I ate there - I hate/d oriental food. My parents didn’t subject me to that food too much.

Yes, we frequently went to Security mall, especially for movies. I saw Superman there, and Freaky Friday, and others. We LOVED the “KarmelKorn” kiosk - best caramel popcorn ever. Sad it apparently disappeared.

Last time I was at Security was probably late ‘90s, after I returned from CT. I was buying my nephew a video game. Before that, it had been when Hutzler’s breathed its last gasp in the area.

[bus man]

It’s happened before, just didn’t get national headlines when we are in a craze hoping every shooting is a mass murder. A few years ago some gangbangers (in Kolumbia? NO!) got in a fight outside JCP and people died. Many years ago, I think before the huge renovation, an armored truck was robbed in the parking lot outside Sears (i.e., near mall entrance where the shooter was located today) and driver killed or such. Oh, it happens. Kolumbiites just pretend it doesn’t in their oh-so-perfect diverse Heaven made by God Rouse.

Oh, I know it happens here. But when it happens in a place that you regularly visit, at a time of day when you would normally be there -- at a place which seems so safe -- it's unsettling.

I'm not a Columbia cheerleader, but you do have to admit, the utopian illusion isn't all that hard to maintain. After all, the typical resident is a well-to-do professional, rather than a welfare parasite; there's the long-standing reputation of being tolerant of interracial relationships; and everything seems so tidy and well-manicured. (Take a drive through Harper's Choice or Oakland Mills or Long Reach; they don't look like slums, do they?)

Dig beneath the surface, and one can find Columbia's dark underbelly. Or, don't dig, and pretend that all's well in paradise. But it's a little harder to maintain the illusion when there are bloodstains on the shiny floors of our upscale mall.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”In 73 or 74 my college friends and I were escorted from the county by their finest for ahem falling into the lake and fountain one night. Took us all the way to the Patapsco bridge on 40 :)”

I wasn't here then but I recall in the early 90s an editorial in Howard county times complaining how this county was unappealing towards more diversity because of lack of free clinics for stuff like drug abuse.,

And the NAACP complaining that the Howard county police pulled over blacks.

Crime was low here in those days and gas pumps were ‘pump first’

Lots of undeveloped land it was real pretty here then.

[RedMDer]

The eastern county was still mostly rural then. They had nothing bigger going on so they could send a bunch of manpower to remove some onery college kids.