The College Perspective by Lindsey

An explosion occurred at Mega City Mall at 9:50 am today, resulting in two deaths and less than 100 injured.

The explosion occurred before the mall had opened, most of the people inside were employees or mall walkers. The blast affected a large section of the food court and parts of Ikea.

Before the explosion, a suspicious person dressed all in black wearing a hood was seen by a member of mall security, Mikaela Livengood, putting a box on a table. Livengood who was walking by the food court at the time estimated the time of the explosion to be about thirty seconds after the box was placed.

Livengood quickly went towards the scene of the explosion to help people outside before emergency crews arrived. She remembers there being multiple fires and debris everywhere, people were scared, trying to run out of the building as soon as possible.

Most of the injuries reported by St. Mercy and Jean-Luc hospitals are from fire and smoke inhalation, however other serious injuries occurred, involving a head and foot. The names of those who died have yet to be released. They were pronounced dead on the scene by the fire department.

The mall janitor, Kaycie Strobl, was in the center of the food court cleaning the floor when the explosion occurred. She suffered a mild concussion and had a piece of debris lodged in her leg before an off duty nurse, Jared Martin, cleared the shrapnel and patched up her wound. Martin stayed on to help members of the emergency crew after the initial explosion.

Mall security has reported no other incidents like this explosion in the past few months besides the regular shoplifting.

Investigative units and fire rescue teams from Mega City, Central City, Starling City, and Astro city have been dispatched to the scene. Homeland Security has also been informed, as is procedure, and will be conducting an investigation alongside the Mega City Police Department.

Video footage of the food court that wasn’t damaged by the explosion has been found and will be part of the investigative process. Police are also looking into the possibility of any disgruntled employees who were fired in the last few months.

According to Captain Fuglsang of the Mega City Police Department, there are no suspects at this time and no known cause of the bomb. In terms of an act of terror, Fuglsang reports there is not enough evidence to confirm terrorism at this time.

The mall will remain closed at least through the weekend.