Reports of gunfire at Colorado mall caused by juveniles' prank

A metro Denver shopping mall was placed on lockdown Friday following a prank that reportedly caused panicked customers to flee the building.

Lakewood Police Department officers and Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to Colorado Mills at 5:40 p.m. after calls came into 9-1-1 claiming shots had been fired, according to LPD.

One local person's social media post exclaimed, "So I'm at the Colorado Mills Mall and everyone starts running out the mall… yup you guessed it, live shooter inside. Colorado be wilding smh."

Deputies, officers and mall security spent more than an hour attempting to locate any threat. They did not find one, nor did they find any evidence of a shooting incident.

Sunday morning, Lakewood PD provided further explanation in a social post.

"Witnesses stated that three boys wearing masks stood up on chairs in the food court and were yelling," the post stated. "It appears they slammed multiple jugs of milk on the ground, causing the loud sounds."

Two of the three juveniles were detained and have been cited for causing a public disturbance, the LPD post added.

A security officer at the mall said businesses are open Sunday for normal hours of operation.