The upscale mall, located in the 400 block of Newport Center Drive, was packed with holiday shoppers when the shots were fired around 4:30 p.m. No one was injured, but shoppers were clearly shaken.
The gunfire was captured on video by Patrick Wyrick. Witnesses say the suspect, 42-year-old Marcos Gurrola, was standing next to his white Honda Civic in the parking lot outside Macy's.
Laby Shayan was just a few feet away when he opened fire.
"He was looking at me [for] just a matter of a second, and he took his hand up and -- boom, boom, boom, boom, boom -- five times, I heard five times," she said. "And I said, 'OK, this is it, this is a really bad moment.' I just ran."
Inside the mall, frightened shoppers reacted as word of the shooting spread.
"I remembered what happened yesterday and it scared me. I thought, 'Oh my god, it's happening over here,'" said shopper Hanaa Escatel, in reference to the shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Friday.
Police officers arrived quickly and captured Gurrola. SWAT officers also searched the mall, and the bomb squad brought in a robot to go over the suspect's car after he told police he had ammunition in his trunk.
Some stores locked shoppers inside as a precaution.
"Sales people told us what direction to go, no one panicked, and we all walked an exited," said Rita Stephanou.
Mall employee Duaine Arvidson told Eyewitness News in a phone interview that Macy's was evacuated, and people calmly left the building. He also said he did not see anyone with a weapon in the mall, but he did hear gunshots.
Gurrola has been booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held on $25,000 bail.
