By: Mayur Rajan

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — On Friday, Nov. 5, the Great Mall in Milpitas was locked down by law enforcement after a gun threat took place and a knife attacker was reported at the scene.

According to a press release by the Milpitas Police Department, “officers responded to a report of a fight involving a knife near a restaurant inside the Great Mall. Arriving officers were able to detain three individuals believed to be involved with the fight. One of those individuals — a 15-year-old male — was found to be in possession of a large concealed knife.” Reportedly, 10 minutes later the police department received a call about shots fired occurring at the mall, and it was unclear if the shots fired had anything to do with the initial knife attacker. 

In response to the shots fired, neighboring law enforcement was contacted in order to deal with the evacuation and rescue of the citizens inside of the mall. Law enforcement did not know about the knife attack at the time, so they brought fire department and paramedics to the mall to deal with what they thought was an active-shooter situation.

The police started with enforcing a shelter in place to the customers and workers and evacuated the interior to deal with the situation at hand. When the police got to the scene, they were surprised by what exactly had occurred and what happened. The police stated, “they found no evidence of shots being fired within Burlington Coat Factory or within the Great Mall. There also were no injured parties related to either call that officers could  locate or were reported to the police department.” 

Although there was no evidence of a shooting found at the scene, the knife of the 15 year old male was found and he is now being faced with probation. The official report, according to the police was, “The 15-year-old male juvenile found in possession of the knife was on Santa Clara County probation for auto theft, evading a peace officer, resisting arrest, possession of an illegal weapon, and robbery. The teen was booked into juvenile hall for a violation of probation warrant, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of concealed dagger.” 

A Silver Creek student shared his opinion on the event and said. “I think the situation was a bit scary and I’m glad there weren’t any casualties. I hope all the people there at the time are ok and I am happy that the person with the weapon is being faced with justice.” The police are done with the investigation overall and now residents can safely continue to return to the mall.