Reports of a shooting at the Longview Mall on Monday afternoon were confirmed to be nothing more than a sighting of a person carrying an airsoft gun, according to the Longview Police Department.聽
Dozens of Longview first responders raced to the Overstock Furniture & Mattress store after 2 p.m. Monday. Panic spread on social media when rumors spread that a shooting had occurred. In reality, a man was carrying an airsoft gun, and someone who saw him called the police, according to LaDarian Brown, public information officer for the Longview Police Department.聽
"We did not have a shooting at the mall," Brown said. "We had an individual who had a airsoft pellet gun. No one was hurt, no one was injured, nothing of that nature occurred.
"Someone saw it, and as a consequence they contacted us, and that's pretty much the end of it."
The man carrying the airsoft weapon was detained and released because no crime was committed, Brown said.
First responders had cleared the scene after roughly an hour, Brown said.
The large police presence caught the attention of social media users.
Brown said the police department's officers always take reports of crimes seriously.聽
