Garden State Plaza, Other Shopping Centers On 'High Alert' After Last Year's Violence

Violence at two of New Jersey’s most popular malls last year has authorities and mall staffers on “high alert,” NJ Advance Media reports.

One of those violent incidents includes the December 2013 carjack killing of a Toms River man at The Mall at Short Hills in Millburn that led to the indictment of four men.

In November 2013, a man armed with a long gun opened fire in the upper level of the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, forcing the mall into a lockdown deep into the night. The shooter, Richard Shoop, was ultimately found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Several malls in New Jersey have had enhanced security patrols through the Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, and local police have had additional patrols, NJ Advance Media reports.

A spokeswoman for the Garden State Plaza’s operators, Westfield, says it was well prepared for the weekend and had a “comprehensive security plan,” including foot and vehicle patrols and electronic surveillance, NJ Advance Media reports.

Security was an issue of concern following the Mall at Short Hills shooting, as cited by the victim’s widow who filed a wrongful death suit for an undisclosed amount of money against the mall’s owners, its security company and the Millburn First Aid Squad.

Jamie Schare Friedland filed the suit for the death of her husband, Dustin Friedland, a Toms River native and Hoboken attorney who was gunned down when the couple returned to their Range Rover around 9 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2013.

The lawsuit alleges that the mall’s owners should have known the upscale mall was a prime target for carjackings and should have taken appropriate precautions.