Chelsea Brogdon of Chattanooga was at Northgate Mall on Tuesday, unfazed by threats against shopping malls by a Somali terrorist group calling for so-called lone wolf attacks.
“I don’t think I have to live in fear,” she said. “If I do, it lets them win.”
About CBL
CBL & Associates Properties Inc. owns, holds interests in or manages 147 properties, including 89 regional malls and open-air centers, including Hamilton Place mall and Northgate Mall in Chattanooga and Walnut Square Mall in Dalton, Ga.
Still, Chattanooga shopping center giant CBL & Associates Properties Inc., which owns Northgate and Hamilton Place malls in the city along with others coast to coast, was among companies taking seriously the need for vigilance.
“We have numerous security procedures in place [seen and unseen],” CBL spokesman Dan Summerlin said in a statement. “Our No. 1 priority is to provide our shoppers, retail partners and employees with a comfortable, convenient and enjoyable experience.”
Summerlin declined to specify CBL’s security efforts, and he wouldn’t say whether efforts are beefed up in the wake of the threats by the terror group al-Shabaab posted in a video.
Jeff Bass, manager of longtime Northgate tenant Colony 13, said business seemed off Monday, though it was hard to say why.
“I think everyone is nervous. It’s in the back of everyone’s minds right now,” he said. “I think eventually people will get back to normal life.”
Bass said it appeared as if the mall’s security guards were more noticeable Monday.
“We’ve seen them walking around a lot today,” he said.
Shopper Sara Miles, also of Chattanooga, said at Northgate that the threats do concern her. But, she added, she doesn’t expect them to affect whether she decides to come to the mall.
Joey Alls said outside Northgate that he’s not bothered.
“I don’t feel there’s a reason to be concerned,” the Chattanooga man said, adding that he feels safe.
Northgate MallBrogdon said her husband is in the military, and she has been paranoid about the emergence of the violent extremist group ISIS in the Middle East.
But the most recent threats won’t affect how she shops, she said.
The International Council of Shopping Centers, which represents the industry, said that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda in New York City and Washington, D.C., that the business sector has worked diligently with law enforcement on training and preparedness.
The shopping center council cited the use of bollards, the short vertical posts cemented in the ground at some entrances and other key locations. Also, centers are utilizing uniformed patrols, surveillance cameras and other measures.
“When it comes to protecting and securing a shopping center, many factors are taken into consideration and security plans and procedures are customized to each center’s unique characteristics,” the trade group said in a statement.
The council said there’s no-one-size-fits-all approach to developing and deploying a security program. Individual centers continually update and refine their security plans in concert with law enforcement, it said.
“On a local level, CBL’s shopping centers work with their local government officials and law enforcement agencies to be prepared,” Summerlin said.
The threatening video was released over the weekend by al-Shabaab, which carried out the 2013 attacks on a Kenyan mall that killed more than 60 people. It said militants should attack American, Canadian and British shopping centers and referenced the Mall of America near Minneapolis.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said shoppers should be “particularly careful.”
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security denied that there was any credible threat against Mall of America or other shopping centers, according to Reuters.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.