LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One person was hospitalized after being shot Wednesday afternoon inside Mall St. Matthews.

St. Matthews Police Chief Barry Wilkerson said police were called to the mall around 3:45 p.m. on a report of an active shooter at the mall. Once on scene, police determined there was no "active aggressor" but an altercation between two groups of people that ended with one person being shot in the arm. Wilkerson said that person was transported to University of Louisville Hospital. Their condition is unknown.

Louisville Metro Police — which is helping St. Matthews officers with the investigation — asked the public to stay away from Mall St. Matthews amid an investigation into a shooting that sent a person to the hospital. 

Police are still searching for the parties involved and have made no arrests. Wilkerson said it happened inside the mall near the Lids store.

"I told everybody to come in or go to safety, and then I closed the gate and waited for more information," said Shawn, who works at Finish Line. He said he saw the person who police said was shot in the arm.

"A person or a customer got shot. Then one person with a ski mask ran this way, and then ran back out the (Dillard's) men's parking lot, and there was another person involved," he told WDRB News. "And he had a car, and he was waiting for a car, and then, after I found out, they closed the mall."

The shooting sent shoppers and mall employees running for cover.

"I picked the wrong day to go to the mall," said Tony Brooks, who was inside the mall at the time.

Some were told to hide for more than an hour, taking shelter inside bathrooms and anywhere they could in a moment's notice. 

"I was trying to go back in and take cover. I was in there for about an hour-and-a-half with two other ladies," Brooks said. "I was praying. Called my daughter, said 'I love you,' called my son, and a couple of friends."

Police said all individuals involved fled the scene near the area of El Nopal, and they didn't believe any of them were still inside the mall, however in an "abundance of caution," Wilkerson said, SWAT teams from LMPD and St. Matthews Police searched the mall for anyone involved.

"We finally came out and an officer went running through and said get back into hiding, so, we went back in for about 30 minutes," said Brooks. "And then they announced over the intercom that it was OK to leave."

A person was shot at Mall St. Matthews on May 31.

Wilkerson called the shooting a "totally isolated situation" that "unfortunately" took place "inside the mall where others were."

As police search for the people involved in the shooting, they're asking anyone who was at the mall at the time who has photos or video to reach out to them.

Mall St. Matthews closed after the shooting for the rest of the evening. It's unclear at this time whether or not the mall plans to reopen Thursday. Brookfield Properties, which owns the mall, has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.