On the night of Dec. 5, local authorities received calls of an active shooter at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks. The reports were answered with 16 patrol cars sent to The Oaks mall. 

According to KTVA and The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office press release, “the whole thing started when two men confronted a third man over his refusal to wear a mask inside the mall.”

The confrontation escalated into a fight, or as authorities described: a “melee.” An off-duty Los Angeles County deputy tried to intervene and break up the skirmish but it continued to intensify. That is when the off-duty deputy identified himself as an officer and pulled out a handgun. 

“At that point, the fight ‘quickly ended,’” KVTA reported. 

No shots were actually fired and the fight between the three men only resulted in minor injuries. None of the people involved wanted to press any criminal charges. 

The false alarm caused the local shoppers to share their experiences on social media:

“As I was walking around the oaks mall a crowd of people start running to the door and someone shouts shooter so my boyfriend told me to run and it was honestly one of the most scariest things ever,” a public tweet read.