Brawls break out at malls across U.S.

Shoppers across the U.S. got more than they bargained for, scrambling for safety at several malls after violence erupted in food courts and common areas.

ABC News' Michelle Franzen reports, at the Arden Mall in Sacramento, there was a food court brawl and reports of gunfire after police say rowdy teens tried to take over parts of the mall.

A Sacramento police office said, "It got to the point where we felt that it was being proactive that we would shut the mall down."

Police made at least three arrests.

At Monroeville Mall, near Pittsburgh. Cell phone video captured the chaos inside the mall with people shoving and pushing and shoppers fleeing up the escalator. Police say six fights broke out and two teens went to the hospital

Monroeville Police Chief Doug Cole said, "It appeared to be no set type of protest it was just that there were many juveniles."

And in Missouri, at the Independence Center, there was sirens and unrest as police

barricaded the entrance.

A police officer there said, "We take that very seriously that's why we were able to get a large police presence here very quickly."