A series of now-viral videos appear to show a woman chasing and screaming at another woman in a Victoria’s Secret store in a New Jersey mall.
The incident, which was filmed and uploaded to YouTube by a woman who identified herself online as Ijeoma Ukenta, shows another shopper at the Mall at Short Hills on Saturday rushing at Ukenta and pursuing her around the store while yelling and crying.
Ukenta shared multiple videos that appear to show the woman trying to grab Ukenta’s cell phone. Police officials have not identified the second woman, and USA TODAY is not naming her because she has not been charged with a crime.
In the videos, the woman is seen asking Ukenta to stop recording, lying on the floor of the store and telling Ukenta to “get away from me” while moving toward her.
In another video, a police officer can be seen telling Ukenta that they cannot escort the woman out of the shopping mall. Several officers can be seen talking to the woman as Ukenta tells them, “And she’s crying, and they’re just being all sympathetic to her tears. I don’t care about her white tears.”
“She needs to be escorted out the mall. She chased me around the store and tried to attack me twice,” Ukenta can be heard saying.
Ukenta is Black, and the woman seen chasing her in the video is white, according to multiple reports.
The Millburn Police Department, whose officers responded to the incident, confirmed to USA TODAY that it has opened an investigation and is waiting to receive video footage from the store.
In other YouTube videos, Ukenta says she is filing a complaint against multiple law enforcement officials who responded to the store.
“I was treated like it was 1920 in Short Hills Mall. I was assaulted and harassed by a white woman and nothing was done by security nor the police,” Ukenta wrote in a GoFundMe account she started to raise money for an attorney.
In a statement, Millburn police said Ukenta, who they did not identify by name, has not yet filed a written complaint over the incident.
The other woman in the video was “having a ‘panic attack'” over being filmed by Ukenta, police said.
“She told the officers that she was concerned that she would lose her job if the video was released to the public,” according to the statement.
In a statement to USA TODAY, the mall said, “We sincerely apologize to Ms. Ukenta for her experience.”
Victoria’s Secret stressed its commitment to “a safe and welcoming environment for all” in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The video taken in our store is unsettling and we have initiated a full investigation. Our associates followed our protocols and immediately called our Emergency Operations Center as well as mall security for support during the altercation between our customers,” the store’s statement read.
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