On Saturday night, there was a massive kerfuffle at a very crowded mall near Chicago. Police have pieced together that early in the evening, two people began fighting, were separated, and then began fighting again. From somewhere in the mall came three loud bangs, which people in the crowd assumed were gunshots. They were not: the noise has been variously described as someone dropping a lid or banging on a pot in the food court.

The manager of the Japanese restaurant disputes the police account, saying that an employee dropped a metal lid on the floor. The police told local media that restaurant staff told them that a restaurant employee made noise with the pan to force the crowd in the food court to disperse.

Whatever the reason for the noise, it was mistaken for gunshots. That caused mall-goers to panic and try to get the heck out of there. One mall employee described what happened next as a “rampage.”

The mall closed early on Saturday night, with police officers guiding customers out of the building and sending them home.

Police: Clanging pots mistaken for shots at Chicago Ridge Mall [Chicago Tribune]

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