Shoppers: Fashion Square Mall is Safe in Certain Areas, Not in Others

Updated: 11:12 PM Mar 13, 2010

More than a week after a fight broke out at Fashion Square Mall, mall officials have increased security. Shoppers say they feel safer, but avoid the places they fear another fight could take place.

Posted: 11:04 PM Mar 13, 2010
Reporter: Jessica Jaglois
Email Address: Jessica.Jaglois@newsplex.com

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March 13, 2010

About a week after a rumble, involving an estimated 100 teens forced the closure of the Fasion Square Mall, shoppers say the scene there has changed.

Extra security patroll the shopping center and police officers are on-hand, to make sure patrons are safe. Shoppers say that they do feel safe browsing the mall - but only certain areas.

Last week, the large-scale fight began in the parking lot of the Belk Men's and Home Store, eventually moving inside the mall. One teen was injured, though not seriously. A gun was also recovered from the scene.

Shopper Lydia Lunnen says, she's not surprised a fight broke out at the mall when it did. "On Friday and Saturday nights, there are some riff-raff that hang out [at the mall.] It's not a great place to go."

Lunnen brought her 3 young boys to dinner at Red Robin at Fashion Square Mall. She says she feels safe in the area around Red Robin but avoids other places in the mall.

"There's a certain section of the mall where they hang out," Lunnen says.

Mall officials couldn't comment on the incident past the statement they released saying, their "primary concern is for the safety of shoppers and employees."

Several mall employees who saw the fight last Friday night told CBS19 that having the extra security on patrol makes them feel more at ease.

We welcome your comments on this story.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Bellerophon Location: Augusta, GA on Jul 30, 2010 at 09:58 AM

So now the mall has "safe zones" and "no-go zones" Are you kidding me? Arm yourselves. America is falling apart. People with any sense know what should be done to fix the problem, but 60 years of Marxist/Communist Social Activism has given us a judicial system that does not know how to deal with such crime and lawlessness.

Posted by: Dump FS Location: Charlottesville on Mar 17, 2010 at 03:45 PM

There have been numerous fights at the mall where cops were never called. The management of this mall is horrible. Beefing up security with senior citizen security guards or guards that certainly could not keep up with a teenager, does not make me feel safe. I am all for a boycott of FS until it is safer and better managed.

Posted by: Right Mom on Mar 15, 2010 at 07:38 PM

I knew it-gangs! Now my AHS student came home with the rumor that last week some "graduates" were roaming the halls at AHS during school. They were rumored to be involved in the fight at the mall. Now the school is thinking of having ID's for all the AHS students. The problem is not ID's, the problem is that AHS is too big, 1800 students compared to 900 at WAHS and MHS. Something other than ID's needs to be thought of, before a student gets hurt. A Community schools is needed not a master plan from the School Board to control gangs, or a master plan and study by the school board on Gangs. Take action, get AHS back to a community school like MHS and WAHS.

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