PARAMUS N.J. (CBSNewYork) - Police responded in force Monday evening, after shots were reportedly fired at the Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall.
Police sources told WCBS 880′s Steve Scott there was still an active shooter at the mall as of 10:15 p.m. No details about injuries were immediately available.
Law enforcement sources initially said people had been hit, but it was not immediately confirmed whether anyone was.
A SWAT team was seen storming the mall as of just before 10:30 p.m.
Shots were fired inside the mall beginning sometime before the mall in Paramus, N.J. closed for the night at 9:30 p.m.
The man firing the shots was reportedly walking around in full body gear and a helmet, with an assault rifle.
An estimated 200 police units were on the scene, and a mass-casualty unit was required.
A witness tweeted that a shooting happened "over by Nordstrom on the second floor."
As of 9:50 p.m., the mall was on lockdown, people inside confirmed to CBS 2.
Kimberly Recchia, who works at Bare Minerals, told WCBS 880 that she saw a man carrying a rifle and dressed in black a ski mask.
CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported witnesses the gunshots were fired on the second level, near Nordstrom, Talbots and J. Crew. As the gunshots were fired, mall security reportedly rushed through and told everyone inside, "Get out or you'll die."
Several sales associates said they looked the gunman in the eyes as he passed the J. Crew and Talbots stores.
"I saw him walk past our door, and he paused for a second and just looked inside the store, and he fired two more," one woman said. "He was all dressed in black from head to two with a helmet - I would say with a motorcycle helmet. I just froze. I didn't want to run, because he might maybe come after me. I just stood there."
The man just walked past, and fired more shots afterward, the woman said.
"A man came down the aisle and he was firing gunshots with a rifle," she said. "First I heard it, then I saw him coming down the aisle, and then I saw people screaming, and then I just ran inside the back room."
"I was at the mall, and I saw a bunch of people running a bunch of people yelling, 'There's a shooting! There's a shooting!" said Joseph Elfar, a Rutgers student. "So me and my friend were at the Sprint store, and we start running out. We start running towards the exit, and a lot of people were running out the mall.
"As I was closing the store, I heard these loud fire-cracking noises. I never heard a gunshot before," Adam, an employee at the Michael Kors store, told WCBS 880. " ... I had a customer that shopped before, and she was running back into the store and saying, 'Someone has a gun.' So automatically, I ... started locking the gate and told the staff to go to the back with the customers even in the store."
Another employee described the gunman as a white male possibly in his late 20s, wearing a leather jacket, a motorcycle helmet with the visor up, motorcycle boots, and black jeans.
Another man said he heard three shots.
"We ran into the back of the manager's office, and we just barricaded the door," he said.
Other employees huddled in restrooms, in the backs of offices, and in stores. They were just coming out at 11 p.m., after police walked through area by area. But the gunman remained unaccounted for as of 11 p.m.
While her claim has not been confirmed, one mall employee told 1010 WINS there may have been more than one shooter.
"There was two people in armored suits with AK-47s just going around shooting people randomly," she said.
An employee also told 1010 WINS she was locked in the basement of the mall.
Anyone near the junction of Routes 4 and 17 was advised to stay inside. Stay with CBSNewYork.com for more on this developing story. Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:
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