KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Keith King was doing some last-minute holiday shopping at the Target in the Ward Parkway Center on Tuesday night before it was interrupted by chaos.
King was forced to evacuate from the store as dozens of law enforcement officers flooded the scene to investigate a shots fired incident.
"I’m inside Target (getting) last minute gifts for the family — someone rushed by me and said there was an active shooter," King said.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department confirmed no one was injured in the incident, but it still left King feeling rattled.
"At that moment, I was sitting back and going 'What is happening? Is this real?' And luckily I heard someone say we can get out this emergency exit," King said.
At the same time, Tiffany Fatino, an employee at Bath & Body Works, was quickly forced to find a place to hide.
"It was scary being asked to hide in the back, but luckily we had great training and were prepared," Fatino said.
Dana Williams, another employee at Bath & Body Works, said it's unfortunate something like this happened so close to the holiday season.
"It’s always a sad thing when this happens over the holiday season when so many people were here," Williams said.
More than one person of interest were taken into custody, according to Ofc. Donna Drake, a spokesperson for KCPD.
However, Drake couldn't immediately say how many on Tuesday night.
Drake also said she was relieved no one was injured, but still realizes these incidents can take a toll on people.
"I feel lucky that I’m not giving you different information right now," Drake told reporters Tuesday night. "I hope that remains to be the case tonight. I don’t wish this upon anyone; this is a traumatic experience and as you know, we take our family shopping with us and we shouldn’t be worrying about things like this when we are looking forward to celebrating and spending time with family."
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