By: Richard L. Smith
Police in Elizabeth are investigating two separate altercations that broke out inside The Mills at Jersey Gardens on Sunday afternoon, prompting a brief lockdown and sending one person to the hospital.
The incident took place around 4:15 p.m. when Elizabeth Police received reports of loud banging noises inside the mall, initially believed to be gunshots.
Officers responded urgently and arrived to find a confusing scene.
Upon further investigation, authorities determined that no shots had been fired. 
The loud noises came from store employees quickly shutting their security gates in response to the commotion caused by two separate fights—one involving store employees and the other involving mall patrons.
One of the altercations was reported to have occurred at the Primark store.
During the incident, a senior woman suffered a head injury and was transported to a local hospital for treatment, according to information provided by her family to RLS Media. It was not immediately clear if the woman was directly involved in the fights.
No other injuries were reported.
The mall has since resumed normal operations as police continue to investigate the cause of the disturbances.
