Local Mall Security Questioned

The company that owns the Portland mall that has two people killed on Tuesday also owns several malls in Mid-Missouri. Now ABC 17 News is questioning if local malls would be able to respond if a shooting happened here.Mall management says there are security guards on duty at all times. But shoppers may not be able to always see them. That now has some shoppers feeling uneasy about spending time at the mall.We walked through both the Columbia and Capital Mall. The only visible security guard we found was in the Columbia Mall. Shoppers say physically seeing a guard goes a long way with their comfort level.”I was just in there for about an hour and saw security guards around,” shopper Mick Snyder says. “They seem to have a pretty good presence and I feel pretty safe here.”But at the Capital Mall the only time ABC 17 News saw a security guard was when a mall worker notified them we were filming on the grounds and they came out to talk with us. But we weren’t the only ones that noticed.”Everywhere you go you see security out walking around, making sure people are alright and seeing if there’s any suspicious,” shopper Roni Prater says. “If we don’t see them, how do we know they’re doing their jobs?”General Growth Properties owns Columbia and Capital Malls. The general manager Rusty Strodtman says just because we don’t see a security guard doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”A lot of officers may not be dressed in attire that you can tell them any different than a normal customer. So if you don’t see one that doesn’t mean they’re not here.” Strodtman explains.Neither mall would go into detail about their security, but said if something happened similar to what happened in Portland, they would be ready. They say they’re preparing as much as they can by doing things like working with stores on plans and keeping in contact with law enforcement each day.”We do everything we can to be prepared, we have a lot of resources in action with eyes and cameras and a lot of other different mechanisms to have as many eyes and ears as we can out there,” Strodtman says.Mall leaders tell us security guards don’t carry any guns. The only guns on the property would be when police help out with security.