GREENWOOD — Shoppers dropped phones, keys and stuffed animals as they fled from a gunman who fired shots inside the Greenwood Park Mall Sunday night.
About 200 items were left in the food court, which became a crime scene that night. All those items are being held in the Greenwood Police Department's evidence room.
On Tuesday, police started returning those shopping bags and other items left in the food court to the people who lost them.
About 25 people retrieved items by Tuesday afternoon, but hundreds of items of clothing, wallets, cell phones remained unclaimed and stored away in the police property room, Greenwood Police Department Sgt. Brian Folco said.
James Arthur was among the people who dropped their bags and scrambled for the exits. He was school shopping with his wife and four children. They were getting a hoodie made for his daughter Madison Willoughby, 14, when the shots rang out.
"It was crazy, like something you see on T.V.," Arthur said, speaking to WRTV in the mall parking lot about two hours after the mass shooting.
Arthur heard the gunshots and saw the people running. Police said the 20-year-old gunman fired 24 rounds into the food court, killing three people and injuring three more, before he was shot to death by an armed citizen.
The trauma was still raw in Aurthur's mind when he first spoke to WRTV. He said he spent about $550 in clothes and shoes, things his children would need when school starts in the fall.
"There's bigger things going on, somebody got killed," Arthur said. "And now I can't get my children's stuff that I just bought for school. I mean I had all my money in that."
On Tuesday, Arthur said his wife went to the Greenwood Police Training Center and retrieved everything they had purchased.
"She was probably in there about 10 to 15 minutes and got all of our stuff," Arthur said.
Several other people who retrieved lost items on Tuesday told WRTV that the process was quick and smooth.
The Greenwood Police Training Center, 736 Loews Boulevard. was open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday for people to retrieve their things.
To reclaim things after Tuesday, contact the Greenwood Police Department, 317-882-9191, to schedule a time.
Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on Twitter: @vicryc.
More: Mass shooting at Greenwood Park Mall leaves multiple dead, injured | Local lawmakers, leaders react to Greenwood Park Mall shooting | What we know about the mass shooting at Greenwood Park Mall | Greenwood Park Mall mass shooting: First victim had a gun, no time to use it | Greenwood mall mass shooting suspect fired 24 rounds in 2 minutes; motive unclear
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