Mall shootings rare, most calls in Columbus malls unrelated to crime

On Apr 10, 2021

Columbus police cruisers sit outside the main entrance to Polaris Fashion Place after shots were fired inside a first-floor atrium area on March 15.

Despite two shootings reported at Polaris Fashion Place within two weeks, the majority of calls to the three major malls in Columbus are for non-violent crime or are not related to crime at all, according to an analysis by The Dispatch.

More:‘I’m very, very anxious.’ Shooting at Polaris reported for second time in two weeks

Shoppers who were at Polaris following the shootings last month expressed some anxiety about potential incidents in the future.

But The Dispatch analysis of crime records found the incidents of shootings or violent crime at the three largest malls in Columbus — Polaris Fashion Place, Easton Town Center and The Mall at Tuttle Crossing — are low.

An analysis of nearly 4,000 runs involving Columbus police at the three malls between Jan. 1, 2018, and March 18, 2021, showed reports of shootings accounted for 0.2% of all the calls.

There were 1,717 calls to Columbus police from Polaris Fashion Place during that time period, and 850 calls to Tuttle Crossing.

The exact number of calls to Easton Town Center could not easily be determined because each store, restaurant, and other business at Easton has a separate street address. The Dispatch chose 15 businesses at Easton with typically busy traffic to serve as a representative sample of the mall overall.

From Jan. 1, 2018, to March 18, 2021, there were 1,401 calls to those 15 businesses at Easton.

Most calls not for crimes

The majority of the calls at all three malls were not for crimes, The Dispatch analysis found. At Polaris and Easton, most calls were for special-duty assignments. These assignments, available for off-duty officers, are requested by stores to have a security presence at that one specific location versus a security officer responsible for the whole mall.

The special-duty assignments are recorded in call logs because the off-duty officers radio in to alert dispatchers to their presence and so they can be made aware of other calls that may occur at the mall while they are on the premises.

There also were a large number of calls classified as “99” on run records, which is not a run for service directly to police and is used internally for filing. Many of these calls are to assist the fire department or to help reset or test alarms, according to the run records.

A number of calls for alarms, particularly at stores, were also recorded.

As far as criminal activity, the most frequent call at all three malls was for shoplifting and theft complaints.

At Polaris, 129 shoplifting calls were reported during the time frame analyzed, while 117 were reported at Tuttle and 216 at the Easton businesses sampled.

Polaris shootings drew increased police presence

Polaris drew an increased law enforcement presence in March following two shootings that occurred two weeks apart inside the mall.

On March 3, 21-year-old Anthony Deshawn Truss Jr., of Reynoldsburg, and 25-year-old Levon Sommerville, of the Northeast Side, got into an argument inside the Carter’s/Osh Kosh B’Gosh store, located on the first floor of the mall. Sommerville is suspected of firing at Truss inside the store before departing, prompting Truss to go outside into the mall and fire at Sommerville as he walked away, police said. No one was injured, police said, and both men remain at large, the subject of warrants seeking their arrests.

On March 15, Arshad Lawson, 20, of the East Side, fired several shots inside the mall in a first-floor atrium area after an apparent confrontation between two groups of young people, police said. Lawson was later identified from surveillance videos released publicly and is currently in the Franklin County jail on unrelated charges.

No one was struck in that incident either, although one person’s jacket was grazed, police said.

Following the shootings, Columbus police and Polaris staff worked together for an increased security presence at the mall, which is located in a portion of Delaware County that was previously annexed into the city.

Polaris Fashion Place’s parent company, Washington Prime Group, said they value the security of their guests but declined to comment further for this story.

Mall shootings rare, but not unprecedented

Overall, the number of calls involving firearms or shootings at malls are rare in Columbus. According to the run records from Columbus police. Aside from the two shootings at Polaris in March, there were a combined six reports of shots being fired in the three-year period examined by The Dispatch at the three malls.

There were an additional 11 runs that involved at least an accusation to 911 dispatchers that a gun was seen or brandished between the three malls. Six of those occurred at Polaris.

The time period The Dispatch examined did not include a shooting that occurred inside a PINK store at Easton Town Center in 2017 during a dispute between two women.

Jennifer Peterson, chief executive at Easton, said in a statement to The Dispatch that security remains the “number one priority” at the town center.

“Our security operations are robust and always evolving so that we can deliver a safe and enjoyable experience for our guests,” Peterson said.

Easton has hundreds of cameras and 200 stations where guests can call for service on the property. The mall also has security personnel who patrol the mall on foot, in cars and on bikes. Columbus police officers on special duty are also involved in the security processes as needed, Peterson said, and on-duty officers have a specific patrol car assigned to the mall and the surrounding property.