Over the past few years, gun violence has only increased. On Apr. 5, 2024, amid Spring Break, hundreds of families shopping at Los Cerritos Mall faced their fears. An exchange of gunfire containing three armed suspects and officers took place in Nordstrom and the parking lot.
Around 4 p.m. on Apr. 5th, an exchange of gunfire occurred in the parking lot of the Cerritos Mall. When police arrived at the scene, two suspects had fled and were later apprehended in Pico Rivera. ABC7 reports that the third suspect exited the mall and ran through the parking lot, pulling out a firearm, which is when shots were fired by both the officers and the suspect. The third suspect was wounded and later pronounced dead at the hospital. Luckily, no other people were injured. For the following days, crime scene tape and security guards lined the entrances of the mall, still allowing customers to shop but increasing their safety measurements.
An anonymous Millikan student who went to the Cerritos Mall on Apr. 6, the day after the accident occurred, stated that “Unaccompanied teenagers were not allowed alone and more officers lined the entrances and exits of the mall checking bags.”
While it may seem correct to some individuals to implement heavy safety measures after an armed incident, what security do malls already have to prevent dangerous situations? In an attempt to contact Cerritos Mall Information Center, Security, and Management, no response was given to support anything related to the exchange of gunfire or the updated security since the incident. This raises the question of whether or not large facilities such as malls and schools should be checking bags and full body scanning before entrance.
According to the National Library of Medicine, “Recent data suggest continued upward trends in school shootings, school mass shootings, and related deaths over the past 5 years.” Apr. 20, 2024, marks 25 years since the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, a shooting and attempted bombing by two twelfth-grade students. This was the deadliest mass shooting at a K-12 school in U.S. history until the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Dec. 2012 and the Uvalde School Shooting in May 2022.
As always, use the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System to submit secure, anonymous safety concerns to help someone who may hurt themselves or others.
