As police responded to reports of a shooter at the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum was forced to hide.
Gillum said he and Kevin Cate, one of his senior advisers, went to the Apple Store at the mall to replace a charger and AirPods.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers received calls about an active shooter but found no evidence of a shooting or victims.
Police Sgt. Barry Montgomery said in a statement that there was a “man with a gun” radio call, and when officers arrived they found people running away from the mall. While searching, there was a suspicious package found, and police began evacuating people who hid inside.
One of the people in the mall was Gillum — the former Tallahassee mayor and Democratic nominee for governor who lost in November’s general election to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Gillum is scheduled to appear on Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, following an interview of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Cate said he did hear people running but no gunshots.
About 6:30 p.m., Cate told a reporter they had gotten out of the mall.
Afterwards, Gillum addressed the situation in video of the two in a car.
“In all honesty, my heart dropped a little bit. I wasn’t sure what the situation was when you look at and you see people literally sprinting across this wide area.”
Gillum thanked first responders as well as the staff at the Apple Store in the mall for handling the crowds calmly. He also took the opportunity to speak out against what he called a desensitization to mass shootings.
“It made me emotional to think that my three kids and many kids out there are being trained every day on these drills," he said.
“It’s not normal, and it’s not okay.”