Black Friday shoppers were in for a scare on Friday, November 24 as the second largest mall in the United States was evacuated shortly after opening its doors early due to a bomb threat. The incident occurred at American Dream Mall located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where only 13 minutes after opening at 7 am ET, someone made a call claiming an explosive device had been placed in the building.
People in the mall were alerted via text message from police to evacuate immediately. The alert read: “For your safety, the NJSP has reported an emergency situation at the American Dream. All guests, tenants and employees should walk to the nearest exit and evacuate the building. DO NOT use the elevators. Walk to the nearest stairway and follow the exit signs.”
In response to this incident of terrorizing citizens with such malicious intent during this holiday season, state police officers along with K-9 units searched for two hours before deeming it safe for shoppers again around 9:15 am with no explosives found.
????BREAKING NEWS????
American Dream Mall is being evacuated right now.
Shoppers got this alert on their phones.
We are trying to confirm if this is a bomb threat.
This is happening on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
American Dream Mall opened at 7am today. pic.twitter.com/HpmOSvsnF7
— Syma Chowdhry (@SymaChowdhry) November 24, 2023
In response to this incident of terrorizing citizens with such malicious intent during this holiday season, state police officers along with K-9 units searched for two hours before deeming it safe for shoppers again around 9:15 am with no explosives found. As there was no real threat posed but rather just a scare tactic meant to disrupt people’s joyous celebrations of Black Friday shopping events and spread fear amongst them.
Police announced that there would be an ongoing investigation into who placed that call but assured everyone that they were safe as there were no risks posed by any actual explosives being present at American Dream Mall or anywhere else near it either.
American Dream Mall Update
At approximately 7:13 am an individual relayed information that there was a bomb inside of American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, Bergen County. Out of an abundance of caution the mall was evacuated. pic.twitter.com/c1sfqpvENY
— NJSP – New Jersey State Police (@NJSP) November 24, 2023
Officials from American Dream Mall also issued a statement about their brief evacuation procedure taken out of abundance of caution towards their customers’ safety during this time period where security measures need to be taken more seriously than ever before due to heightened terrorist activity all across our nation during these particular times.
They stated that they are looking forward towards a joyous and safe holiday season as well as have already reopened their doors once again for shoppers so they can go back inside without any fear whatsoever given what happened earlier on that day.
NJSP Bomb Unit and K-9 unit performed sweeps of the mall for explosive devices and none were found. The mall has been deemed safe and American Dream will be returning to normal operations. This is still an active investigation and there is no additional information available.
— NJSP – New Jersey State Police (@NJSP) November 24, 2023
