I read that earlier this morning, too, but it’s been ‘scrubbed’ from all articles I’m now reading. Back in the 70s & 80s when I lived in NJ, and worked in Midtown Manhattan, I used to shop at that mall. Nary a problem, back then.
Short Hills isn't even a real town, by the way. It's actually a very wealthy section of Millburn Township that has tried to maintain its own identity and distance itself from the "riff-raff" of Millburn (which is actually a nice town itself). I once had to show up in the Millburn municipal court for a traffic case, and I was shocked to find that every single case on the docket that didn't involve a motor vehicle violation was for shoplifting at the Short Hills Mall.
If you shopped there in the 70’s, then you remember it as an outdoor mall.