that new jersey mall where a gunman opened fire this week is now back open for business. retailers and employees at the paramus mall were allowed to return to work early today to prepare for the reopening. and to collect their personal items left behind the night of that shooting. customers were allowed back just a couple hours later. police say 20-year-old richard schopp fired at least six shots in the mall monday night. he did not shoot anyone. he later turned the gun on himself and left behind a suicide note. his reason for the shooting still remains a mystery. this is just heartbreaking. imagine waking up, your house is on fire. you get out okay. but you suddenly realize your 3-year-old child is still inside, trapped. you think, obviously, you try to rush in to save your child, but police arrive and they stop you. and when you resist, police tase
evacuate and proceed on a search pattern through the mall. this is a huge place. imagine someone trying to hide in a clothing rack to have a snipers view of the officers. you can see the heavy police presence and police vehicles spread throughout the mall at different points and larger tactical vehicles or ambulances also on the scene though there have been no reports right now and new jersey state police putting out a report five or ten minutes ago of no reports of any injuries a it this point but that the shooter was firing at security cameras. an early report from the new york state police. in an incident like this, is command and control who is in control? who is head an operation like this? it probably has now transitioned that the new jersey
of course it could be jail or could have been what happened. but the family did give us an indication that he was looking to end his life. you know, based upon the drug use, based upon other issues. he was only 20 years old. you have to wonder what a 20-year-old would be going through to have him do something like this. invariably it s based upon the drug use and the distribution. he was selling the drugs as well. and you ve said that he left a note. was this a suicide note? it was a note that you could definitely interpret as such. it made reference to the fact that the end was coming. that could mean going to jail, getting arrested or it could mean suicide. we re not altogether sure that he left it immediately before leaving for the mall. but it is something that would at least give you an idea what his mindset was at least in the weeks leading up to last night.
the mall in paramus, new jersey. no one amazingly is injured in this horrifying event that broke out over night, the gunman, a 20-year-old is dead at this hour. absolute chaos broke out at the mall behind me within a gunman entered just after 9:00 p.m. over 400 people locked inside stores for hours. but eventually, they got out safely. chaos at a shopping center in new jersey overnight. we heard four gunshots. and everybody was scared. everybody was panicked. we took everybody, we went in the back of the store, locked ourselves in with 13 people in total, including me. reporter: hundreds of police, s.w.a.t. and emergency teams swarmed the southwestfield garden state plaza mall in search of a gunman who authorities believed fired six rounds just before closing time. the suspected gunman, 20-year-old richard shoop was discovered dead just after 3:00 a.m., his body found lying in a remote area of the mall.
presence you had here immediately. so many of them were scared. they have been at the bank of america bank branch just waiting. there is the entire staff scared by what they saw here. at this point, the mall is surrounded by police. and again we don t know if the gunman or multiple gunmen are still inside the store. that it s what people are waiting to find out. i want to check in excuse me. i want to check in with shawna who is outside the mall. where were you when you heard the shots? tell me what you heard and saw? i was outside the mall and heard three shots being fired and all of a sudden you see people running out. so i m sorry, how many shots did you hear? three. and how far away from you were they? how far away were what?