Springfield Town Center was evacuated Tuesday after a bomb threat, and shoppers were told to leave while Fairfax County Police and specialized officers searched the mall for potential danger.
Officers were dispatched to 6500 Springfield Mall at around 4:28 p.m. after an unknown caller reportedly used a voice distortion device and said the mall would be targeted by bombs and other acts of violence. Fairfax County Police later said officers were on scene at Springfield Town Center for a reported bomb threat.
The response shut down one of the area’s busiest shopping centers just east of I-95, sending store employees and shoppers out of a complex anchored by Macy’s, JCPenney and Target and home to Regal Cinemas, Dave & Busters and the region’s only Lego Discovery Center. Police also told people to avoid the area while the search was underway.
A video shared on social media by DMV Live showed people trickling out calmly as Fairfax County Police vehicles moved through the parking lot. The scene matched the department’s message that the evacuation was being done “out of an abundance of caution” while its Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit conducted a search.
What police found was not immediately clear. That leaves the most important question unanswered for now: whether the threat led only to a precautionary sweep, or to anything more serious inside the mall.
