Last night we were at South Hills Village, ready to go trick or treating at the mall with countless other children! My friend Chrissy and her two kids were downstairs in the children's play area and we agreed to meet after Chris, Brady and I were done eating dinner.
We finished eating in the food court, put Brady's costume on, and headed out into the mall to go to the bottom floor to meet Chrissy and the kids. The elevator had a big line, and we had the stroller, so we headed into Sears. We took the elevator to the bottom floor and started to head toward the mall. An employee stopped us and said that they were closing the mall and we had to leave. We were confused - but it sounded suspicious when they said it was because of a "mechanical difficulty" - so I started leaving quickly. Chris took the stroller up the escalator - so we got out pretty quickly.
Outside was maybe one or two more families waiting there. I said, I'll bet it's a bomb threat - it's pretty fishy. So ... Chris called the assistant chief and confirmed that it was a bomb threat. Once I heard this I was out of there. I was packing the car up with Brady's stuff, and I heard other people saying, the mall might open again soon, let's just wait. I was like, no way. I'm outta here. Good thing, too, because there was gridlock only a few minutes later when the rest of the mall got out and they began evacuating the parking lot.
We left, drove out of the way towards McMurray because I knew if I drove on rt 19 the other way I would get stuck in traffic. Brady still had his giraffe costume on - I shoved him in his seat to get out quickly, and the giraffe on his hood was annoying him. He was screaming and crying and he didn't have his pacifier because Chris took off in the truck the other direction.
We finally got home unscathed. When I talked to Chrissy later - she said that she saw the stores starting to close their gates and then people started running. She said it was chaos.
It's a damn shame that some ass had to call and make a bomb threat. Honestly. Why someone would want to ruin a day for the kids is beyond me. All the poor little kids were dressed up, and, no trick or treat. Chrissy's son Tyler was upset, one minute he's ready to trick or treat, and the next, in his words, the firemen came and ruined it.
The media said that a "specific threat" was made and that they're looking for the person and they will prosecute.
I have a few issues with the way that this "threat" went down. First, according to the media, the mall patrons and employees were notified by loudspeaker that the mall was evacuating. Chrissy said this is not true - she didn't start to leave until people were running. Second - the people outside, if it's at all suspicious why the mall is closing (and it certainly was), in this day and age you can't fool around with a threat like that. If there is anything I learned from 9/11 it is that you have to take these things seriously. And, I know, having my 1 year old son with me certainly made me take it seriously!!!
