A visit to a local mall in Oklahoma turned into a scary ordeal and I felt it was important to let my readers know what happened. As I pulled into the suburban mall parking lot, I could not help but notice it was older and less fashionable than the malls in the northeast. As I sat in the parking lot, staring at this aging, one-story building, I had a flashback to the grand opening of an upscale mall in Maryland, The Owings Mills Mall. It boasted three levels of shopping possibilities with elegant marble floors and a glamorous brass staircase that Liz Taylor walked down on opening day in 1986. Taking a deep breath, I had to remind myself that the mall fell into decline after six years because a woman was murdered in the parking lot. After that, people were too afraid to shop there, and the mall went into a steady decline and eventually closed.
I had always had a good relationship with the mall, filled with endless possibilities and distractions, so I put away the memories of the malls I used to frequent and headed towards the store entrance. As I walked through the different departments, I was taken under the spell of retail therapy with the attractive clothing displays and the fragrant makeup department until I realized I had been in the store for two hours, and it was time to go.
As I headed to the door, I had an uneasy feeling that I was being watched, and suddenly I could feel my heart beating through my chest as I realized two men were blocking the exit and staring at me. I tried to reassure myself that they probably worked in the mall since they wore almost identical outfits, dark slacks, white shirts, and leather jackets. I was used to men looking at me, but this was different. They had their eyes fixated on me with a dark, creepy stare. Nervous to walk past them, I headed to another door leading to the same parking lot.
I don’t know how it was possible; when I got to the second door, one of the men was already there, leaning on a pillar blocking the door, and the other man was standing nearby, staring at me with those dark, creepy eyes.
I was gripped with fear as I realized these men were stalking me and were going to follow me out into the parking lot. Suddenly, I wished I had taken off my gold necklace and left my designer purse at home, and maybe they would not have noticed me, but now it was too late. Scared and unsure what to do, I went up to a sales- clerk and, in a loud whisper, told her that I thought the two men standing at the door were going to follow me into the parking lot. Thankfully she believed me and told me to follow her. She began pointing out the racks with the best-priced sale items and talked about the winter coats that were 70% off. As we moved around the store, the two men followed us as they discretely turned to look at the shelves of merchandise when they saw us looking at them.
The clerk motioned for me to follow her as she made her way towards the cashier’s stand and started pushing buttons on the phone. I stood there shaking as the two men circled the racks of clothing, never taking their eyes off me. The clerk hung up the phone and once again motioned for me to follow her as she nervously continued to chatter about what was on sale. The way the two men were following both of us around the men’s department was almost comical, we would move, and they would proceed with us. The clerk whispered to me that she had called security, and they were on their way.
Then a woman with a bright smile walked up to me and introduced herself as the store manager as the stalkers continued to stare. Trying to make light of the situation, I said that maybe I had overreacted and there was nothing to worry about. Lowering her voice, the manager said that the security tapes had been reviewed, and these men had been following me around the store for quite some time, and I had to leave the store.
I did not have a chance to explain to her that I did not do anything wrong and question why I had to leave because the security officers had arrived. One of the officers approached me, and the other went over to the two men. The officer repeated that I needed to leave the store and he would walk me to my car.
We started towards the door that I had initially tried to flee from when the officer got a call on his radio, and he mumbled something quickly into the speaker. Walking much faster, he told me we would have to leave the store from another exit asking me again where my car was parked. Running to keep up with him, I informed him that it was still outside the department store, confused as we passed the other exit near my car. As he hustled me through the store and out into the deserted mall, I stopped dead in my tracks and told him that my car was not out this way. He could see that my hands were visibly shaking and said it was too dangerous to go out the department store exits. What do you mean to dangerous, I screeched as he picked up his pace, and once more, I had to jog to keep up with him. I demanded to know if the mall was unsafe and if they frequently had problems like this and all he said was “no.”
Almost reaching the end of the corridor where the Sears entrance was boarded up, we exited a side door and went out into the rain. My car was on the other side of the mall, and as we walked, I demanded to know why we were walking around the other side of the parking lot in the rain. He said because the exits near your car were not safe. Breathing a sigh of relief as we arrived at my car, I looked towards the store exits expecting to see the men getting arrested, but no one was there. The officer said, “lock your doors and leave the mall,” and hurried away.
I suddenly realized no one had asked me for my name and address or filled out an incident report. I sat in my car for a few minutes, thinking police cars would be screeching into the parking lot with their lights flashing, but nothing happened. As I was driving home, I understood that the store and mall security had followed protocol and got me safely to my car without being harmed. Who knows what could have happened if I had walked past those men and out into the parking lot.
I remembered, a few months ago, there was a shooting at an upscale mall in Oklahoma City, Penn Square Mall. A shooting occurred on the upper level of the parking deck where two women were fighting, and one of the women shot the other with a rifle.
It does not matter if you are in a good neighborhood or a bad neighborhood, crime is everywhere.
Be aware and trust your instincts and be mindful of your surroundings. If your gut tells you something is wrong, it probably is.
