RALEIGH -- The Raleigh Police Department issued a statement saying that officers responded to the Crabtree Valley Mall about 2:30 p.m. Saturday to a report of shots fired.
During a news conference Saturday evening, police said they are still investigating whether or not shots were fired or perhaps something else.
Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said that no one was in custody, nor was anyone wounded.
She said people heard what sounded like gunshots and investigators are examining all possibilities. She said no shell casings were found by late afternoon.
Police say eight people sustained various injuries as people were rushing out of the mall. The ages of the victims range from 10 to 70 years old.
A person inside the mall says he saw a shooting unfold after an argument in the food court and that he heard as many as four shots.
Antonio Richardson told The Associated Press that he was standing at the entrance to a clothing store Saturday afternoon in Crabtree Valley Mall when he saw two men who appeared to be in their early 20s arguing in the food court.
He says he saw one of them pull out a gun and begin shooting. As he was running away, he says he heard as many as four shots in all.
Eyewitnesses describe a chaotic scene after the shots were fired.
Witnesses John Riggleman and Kristin Warring told The Associated Press that they were heading to a video game store when they heard shots coming from the mall's food court. They ran into the store with dozens of others before the doors of the mall were locked.
Warring said she heard an additional series of shots. Police told them they could leave the store at about 3 p.m.