GREENWOOD — Newly obtained police body camera videos provide a previously unseen look into what it took to evacuate Greenwood Park Mall during the shooting last summer.
What began as another Sunday of shopping, eating, and relaxing turned into a night of terror when a gunman shot and killed three people inside the mall's food court on July 17, 2022.
Pedro Pinedaand, his wife Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda and Victor Gomez all lost their lives that day.
The Southport Police Department released the unedited bodycam video from their officers that day as they assisted the Greenwood Police Department. The video gives us a glimpse into how law enforcement officers put their active shooter training into practice in real life.
During the gunfire in the food court mall, people ran to safety. Some bolted out the mall, while others hid in the back rooms of stores inside the mall. Many shoppers called 911 sharing their location and asking to be rescued.
While an armed civilian killed the gunman, it wasn't initially clear to police if the suspect had been acting alone.
READ | One year later: Greenwood Park Mall mass shooting
As law enforcement from the region descended on the mall, police had to figure out if anyone else was involved and find safe ways to get shoppers out of the retail center.
Major Spencer Rauch told WRTV’s Rafael Sanchez their first priority that day was to stop the threat.
"Our goal is to confront whoever is committing the acts of violence," Rauch said.
Rauch and Officer Tony Wilson with the Southport Police Department were among the many law enforcement members who rushed to the scene to support the Greenwood Police Department.
Once they arrived on site, they began to focus on going store to store where they say the shoes, shopping bags and food left behind by shoppers was an eerie sight.
"You'll see shoes in the middle of the walkway or somebody you can tell was running for their lives,” Rauch said. “You can see their shoes or their clothes or items they dropped so they can run faster.”
Body cam video shared with WRTV from that day shows how officers leaned into their training to determine who was a friend or foe as they entered the mall and tried to get the patrons out safely.
Because police were unclear if there were additional shooters involved, every patron – no matter their age – was asked to place their hands in the air as they worked to get them out of the building.
The eerie moments were captured in the bodycam footage provided to WRTV.
The raw original video is much longer and did show faces, but WRTV has chosen to show just the 14 minute clip below to give viewers an insight into their response. We have also blurred the faces of the customers being rescued from the mall to protect their identities.
"There was a group of individuals who said we're in here but we’re not coming out. You still have to be authoritative but at the same time comforting in the same situation," Officer Tony Wilson told Rafael Sanchez. "As they came out from around the area, there was a little girl probably around 4 to 6 years old that had her hands up. And at that point, you go into being authoritarian, to 'hey you're doing great. We're gonna get you out of here,' and being human with children more than anything and let them know that they're safe."
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I asked the officers how they strike the balance to determine who isn't a threat.
"You're scanning, you're looking for things that look off," Wilson said.
"I look at bags," he added. "Do you look injured, or do they have something on that they shouldn't?"
People made split-second decisions on a day gun violence stripped people of their sense of safety, and acts of compassion and bravery gave them reasons to return one day.
"Unless you are 100% positive that this is the police that is not the bad person, then then stay shelter in place, " Rauch said.
