In a city where everyday we learn about how our once admired administration is failing us, the news that fire safety in shopping malls has come under the scanner should first be welcomed.

The initial shock - that Mumbai's glitzy malls, temples of free market economy, should have failed to pay attention to fire safety - is short-lived. That anything-goes attitude, always a national characteristic, has now taken over Mumbai as well.

Usually, the fire department applies stringent norms only to have them overturned or reversed or ignored by other departments of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Bureaucratic tardiness is a habit and to blame that would be to fall into a familiar trap. Yes, the bureaucrats must do their job. But matters of public safety affect us all. Is it surprising that people who flock to the malls - a majority of whom are affluent and educated - do not seem to bother whether the buildings are safe or not?

They might justifiably argue that it is not their business to worry about such things because that is the work of the civic authorities. In a democratic set-up, such passivity has no place. Government accountability hinges on public alertness and pressure.

It is more than a matter of curiosity that mall builders - developers and architects - who are quite modern and futuristic in their thinking and approach should ignore basic and essential issues like fire safety. One reason is that developers are still operating with a short-sighted profit motive. The compulsive tendency to violate building laws and bylaws is so ingrained and strong that matters connected with safety are the first to get a go-by. This is more than a mere act of negligence, and even that is unforgivable. This malaise that afflicts the whole country has to be shown the exit.

Read More…

A gunman in camouflage and wielding a rifle opened fire on Wednesday in a department store at a mall here crowded with holiday shoppers, killing eight people and wounding five others, before turning the gun on himself. Witnesses said they could not see where the shots had come from and scanned up and down the three floors of the mall, unsure how to escape something they could not see. Others said they dismissed the noises as balloons popping or construction noises. But quickly, as four more shots popped, people scrambled for cover. Some screamed. Others ran, dropped to the floor or searched for doors, dressing rooms and employee lounges.

Shoppers and store clerks described a scene of panic and chaos after hearing shots even as a pianist at the store played on. Many here said they could not fathom such a crime's occurring in this relatively quiet city. Some people told of horrific images they saw. A man talking on his cellphone and then falling to the floor. Someone shot in the back of the head, covered in blood. Someone else shot on the second floor while looking up an escalator. "These were people you knew," Ms. Vickroy said, "people you work with."

Scores of police officers began swarming to the mall six minutes after the first call, police officials said. They locked down the mall. Police helicopters circled overhead as officers searched for the gunman. Clusters of shoppers and workers, meanwhile, hid, unsure what would come next.

The police went store to store, department to department, finding clusters of people and ushering them out - hands over their heads to show that they were not the gunman - to safety outside. There, some wept and clutched one another in the frozen air. Eventually, the police found the Mr. Hawkins's body. A suicide note was found, they said.

Read More…

The day after a burst of gunfire at Southcenter mall transformed the popular gathering place into a crime scene, customers were back Thursday, bargain hunting in full force -- some oblivious to the recent violence that left a man hospitalized. Police officers and managers at Westfield Southcenter sought to downplay the Wednesday night parking lot shooting, which sent shoppers running for cover, insisting that malls are no more dangerous than any other public space.

Reasons for the shooting matter less to parents than the simple fact that they consider Southcenter -- a favored meeting spot for teens -- unsafe at certain hours, and their fears are not allayed by the presence of a few security guards. Jennifer Albade worries about her 16-year-old daughter wandering there after dark. Marty Miller, part of a construction crew working on a mall expansion project, won't let his 15-year-old daughter spend time there unsupervised.

And Debra Flatley, mother of a 17-year-old, said the atmosphere has become increasingly ominous. "Until they get this place cleaned up, there's too much gang activity and I don't want her hanging out here," Flatley said of her daughter. Though no shoppers or employees were injured Wednesday night, many were frightened. Nighttime browsers ran for safety, huddling with shop workers for hours until police gave the all-clear about midnight. Andrew Ciarrocchi, Southcenter's general manager, refused to discuss specifics regarding security. He referred those questions to a corporate executive in California, who said that regular training exercises for security staff members are standard practice at the company's malls nationwide.

Sarah Bonds, a spokeswoman for Northgate, as well as a mall in Tacoma, where a shooting in 2005 left seven people injured, released a statement saying both shopping centers "employ an extensive staff of highly trained security officers" who patrol inside and out. The surveillance at Northgate, however, was not enough to stop a 17-year-old boy from shooting 15-year-old boy in the leg on Feb. 22.

Read More…

At least six people have been injured in a shooting incident in a shopping mall in Tacoma, 50km (32 miles) south of Seattle in Washington State. The gunman spent four hours inside the mall - reportedly taking three people hostage - before surrendering to police teams at the scene.

One witness spoke of seeing a man running through the mall and firing, sending shoppers scrambling for cover. One of those injured was said to be in a critical condition.

A shopper, Dick Waldo, told a local television station: "An individual had just come running through a cross section and I heard some fire so I just told everybody to drop. "And then the individual started running toward the other end of the mall."

Police received an emergency call at 1215 local time (2015 GMT) and officers were sent to the south end of the Tacoma Mall. Mall employee Betz Dejarnatt told Associated Press she heard three shots before police ushered staff outside.

Read More…

A man armed with a knife has run amok outside a shopping centre in a Japanese city near Tokyo, killing one person and wounding seven others. Police in Tsuchiura, 50km (31 miles) north-east of the capital, arrested the suspect, who was already wanted over a separate killing last week. The 24-year-old reportedly told them he had "just wanted to kill anyone". Japanese media reported scenes of chaos during Sunday's attack as bloodied victims tried to escape. Correspondents say violent crime is relatively rare in Japan except for killings by crime syndicates, although there have been concerns about a recent rise in street violence.

Overpowered

The suspect, identified as Masahiro Kanagawa, allegedly stabbed his victims in a hallway connecting the mall with a railway station. At least one of the injured was said to be in a serious condition. The man killed was named as 27-year-old Takahiro Yamagami.

Eight police officers had been on duty at the station at the time of the mall attack, and police issued an apology for failing to prevent it.

"It was extremely regrettable that we could not prevent the attacks that caused casualties, despite our utmost effort to avoid secondary crimes [by the wanted suspect]," police official Takashi Ishii was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Read More…