Thirty minutes after the shooting occurred at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., staff from a Kansas City area mall met to review security protocol.

Kate Petersen, assistant marketing director for Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, said she and others were notified immediately by their headquarters, CBL Associates and Properties, about the incident.

“We really want to work with our retailers so they know and they feel safe,” she said.

CBL provides strict and specific procedures for mall staff to follow to help customers, she said, noting that security personnel are constantly being prepped for “incidents like this, an Amber Alert and, God forbid, a bomb threat.”

After a fatal incident in April at Ward Parkway Shopping Center in Kansas City, Mo., Oak Park Mall installed a watch box system in all of its stores. The system sends an emergency message to all retailers through their cash registers, she said.

In Lawrence, shopping safety concerns varied. Muriel Cowgill, of Lawrence, said she feels safer in the outdoor retail centers in the city than she does shopping in a Kansas City mall even though she doubts security in the outdoor centers is high.

Bob Brandt, manager of The Malls Shopping Center near 23rd and Louisiana streets and owner of The Malls Barbershop, said he thinks his center is safer than a mall.

“With an older free-standing mall, not everyone is inside where they can’t get out,” he said. “Everyone has a front and back door to get out.”