Westland Mall Placed On Black Friday Lockdown

HIALEAH, FL — Hialeah, Florida police told Patch that Westland Mall was placed on lockdown briefly on Friday but the security incident turned out to be a false alarm. The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

“We have an incident there," Hialeah police told Patch at the time.

The mall returned to normal by about 3 p.m. but Macy's and J.C. Penney appeared to have a visible security presence out on the floor with shoppers.

"Apparently somebody thought they heard shots were fired," Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández later told WSVN Channel 7.

In August, hundreds of shoppers ran from the Dolphin Mall amid reports of gunfire, but not a single witness who saw the shooter came forward.

Last month, federal agents charged a 53-year-old Honduran man living in Miami with plotting to set off a bomb in the Dolphin Mall as part of an ISIS-inspired attack. Vicente A. Solano was arrested while trying to enter the crowded shopping center with a phony bomb supplied by the FBI. Solano was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Westland Mall has more than 80 shops and restaurants. The mall is located at 1675 W. 49th St.

Claudia Alfonso told Patch that she and her co-workers were told to lock themselves inside the shoe store where they work.

"People started running and they told us to close the doors and stay back," said the 18-year-old student at Miami-Dade College, adding that this is her first job.

Shoppers took to social media during the scare:

Photo by Paul Scicchitano