Barton Creek Square Mall shooting started with social media sale gone wrong: APD

AUSTIN, Texas - Some Austinites say they are now scared to go to the mall after one person was shot at Barton Creek Square Mall Saturday. 

Police say it was an isolated incident, and not an active shooter.

"It felt really scary. We're like, this could be the end," said Jeremy Godwin.

Godwin recalled being at the mall on Saturday with his wife and four kids inside a toy store when chaos ensued.

"We turned around and saw just everyone running by the front of the store, just like a stampede of people as fast as they could, just running by the door, and we heard screaming and yelling all throughout the outside of the mall," he said.

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Godwin admits he had no idea what was going on, but knew it was not good. He says he and his wife grabbed the kids and followed a crowd of people into the store’s storage room which led into the mall’s back hallways.

"We're just panicking. There are people with all these kids. There are no signs and our cell phones don't work back there," he said.

In another part of the mall was Miana Martinez. She was in the middle of eating at the Cheesecake Factory with her husband and three sons when they saw people running and screaming.

"A lot of people were saying, ‘get down, get down’," she said.

Martinez says they hid under their table, and she had her whole body covering her sons as best she could.

"I had no idea what was going on. I just figured, I just assumed, it was a shooter," said Martinez.

She was not the only one to make that assumption. Godwin also told FOX 7 Austin he thought the same thing after overhearing someone say they saw a person with a gun.

"The only news we got was to confirm my worst fear: that this was real, so we just kept running," said Godwin.

Austin police tweeted, clarifying this was not an active shooter situation. APD says this was an isolated incident with no threat to the public.

Police released new details in this shooting case: "Preliminary details revealed that four males, two in each group, met up to complete a private party sale of merchandise that was being sold on a social media platform. The victim was part of one of the two parties, and they did not know each other prior to this encounter. After the two parties met up, a physical fight ensued which escalated into the shooting. The suspects involved in the incident left the scene immediately after the shooting."

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"If we would have known that, but no one thinks that anymore. We're just in the mall. We're like, ‘oh my god, it's a mass shooting’. That's the number one thing that was in our head: there's some mass shooter. They're just trying to get us all," said Godwin.

Godwin was able to make it out of the mall safely with his family.

Police followed up their original tweet an hour later by adding one person that was transported to the hospital. The incident seemed to have happened at the movie theater and Cheesecake Factory. 

Martinez says they were able to safely make it out, but her kids are traumatized.

"My eight-year-old has said that it's pretty much the only thing he can think about. He just keeps thinking about the gunshots and all the blood every time he closes his eyes," she said.

In the end, she's glad the incident was not worse.

"I think it's definitely important to be aware of your surroundings and, you know, a safe escape if, god forbid, you need to," she said.

APD has not said if a suspect has been arrested in this case.