SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) -- The Crossings of Spring Hill was overrun Saturday night with hundreds of trucks and muscle cars revving engines, doing burnouts and creating chaos unlike anything the city has seen before.
The Spring Hill Police Department (SHPD) said the incident was advertised as a car meet-up on social media. However, according to SHPD Capt. Justin Whitwell, the gathering was not sanctioned by the city, the shopping center or the department.
By the 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, officials estimated there were more than 500 vehicles and at least that many onlookers around the parking lot.
Dash camera footage captured the scene as authorities arrived, showing hundreds of spectators lining the parking lot. A man wearing a reflective vest was directing traffic, but SHPD said he was not affiliated with law enforcement or the mall.
As a police car turned down a row of vehicles, people lining the periphery began chanting, "Do a burnout!"
The dash cam video shows vehicles of all makes and models. There were hundreds of cars, many with elaborate lift kits or bright decorations that made them look like rolling Christmas trees.
You can hear engines revving and aftermarket mufflers sputtering loudly in the footage. Meanwhile, street lights illuminated puffs of white smoke -- which authorities said came from cars doing burnouts, despite the presence of law enforcement -- in the dark sky.
SHPD told News 2 the group that organized the event did not obtain permits from the city or permission from The Crossings of Spring Hill. One officer at the scene even called the gathering a "safety hazard."
Police said they only learned of the event when they started getting calls about shots fired at the shopping center. Officers responded quickly, but they soon learned that what people thought were gunshots were actually the loud sounds of engines revving and backfiring.
"It's unsafe because you had people lined up along the roadway, and you don't know when they're going to dip and dive into the lanes, and so people are having to stop, start, and then you've got people shopping, they've got kids...It's just not a safe environment," Whitwell explained.
When asked about people chanting for the officers to burn rubber, the captain replied, "Yeah, they didn't have any respect for us being there at the time. They just wanted to show off their cars."
In the end, authorities said that because of the sheer size of the crowd and the limited manpower on hand that night, the event was terminated and everyone was told to leave the property. Nobody was injured or arrested.
Since the event, Whitwell told News 2 that police have entered into a new understanding with the mall, giving law enforcement more latitude to enforce loitering and trespassing violations on private property.