It was too soon to tell whether the vehicle was stolen or belonged to the pair involved in the shooting in the second-floor vestibule leading to the parking garage outside Nordstrom at Roosevelt Field in Garden City around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, they said.
No one was injured in the shooting, which sent mall stores into lockdown.
A couple was entering Nordstrom from the second-floor parking garage when they were shouted at by two other men for parking their BMW too close to a Mercedes, authorities said.
One of the men retrieved a gun from the Mercedes and fired three shots, missing the couple and hitting various spots in the store as the couple fled inside, they said. No injuries were reported.
The men got into the Mercedes, with Jersey plates, and sped off toward the Meadowbrook Parkway, witnesses said. Another witness later reported seeing five suspects questioned by police and the Mercedes being towed. That couldn't immediately be confirmed.
All of the mall except for Norstrom were eventually reopened.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder cited "the panic alone that’s caused by people now hearing gunfire in a mall. "You start to think active shooter."
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