This story will be continuously updated.
A lockdown at the Hulen Mall in southwest Fort Worth has been lifted after Fort Worth police responded to a person with a weapons call that turned out to be a large fight involving dozens of juveniles, police said.Police received the call at 7:26 p.m. Thursday and went to the mall at 4800 S. Hulen Street.
Police later discovered that a large fight spilled out from the food court into the second floor Dillard's location. The scuffle knocked over a display in the process, causing a loud noise that many shoppers assumed was a gunshot, police said.
“Obviously a big large display that’s in a store will make a lot of noise and that’s exactly what it did,” Fort Worth officer Buddy Calzada said. “So when it hit the ground, we did have several people who didn’t see what happened but heard a loud boom and heard a couple crashes and started yelling ‘Gun! Gun! Gunshots!’”
Multiple police units arrived to do a safety sweep of the entire mall during a lockdown. No weapon was found. Police did arrest two juveniles for theft and two for resisting arrest.
Police told WFAA that when they arrived on scene there did not appear to be an active threat, and they were not been notified of any injuries.
At 8:30, police told WFAA that the lockdown will end soon but the mall will close for the rest of the night.
A mall employee told WFAA that there was a fight in the mall.
"Everyone in the food court was running and saying "he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,'" the employee said.
“[It was] just like, running and screaming, basically," one shopper said. "They shut down all the shops." That shopper, who saw the disturbance happen, said he initially worried it was a shooting, but soon realized it was more likely a fight.
Fort Worth police told WFAA Thursday night they’re investigating whether this was tied to a widespread social media hoax or prank.
This isn’t the first time an incident like this has happened the day after Christmas. On December 26, 2016, WFAA covered a massive fight that broke out in the very same mall.
This is a developing story. Check back for new information. Download our free WFAA app to stay up-to-date on all news stories in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.