After more than 24 hours, the Columbus Division of Police is continuing their investigation into finding who is involved in Wednesday’s shooting at Polaris Fashion Place.
Their therapy dog units made an appearance at the mall Thursday.
Arriving at noon, three dogs, Simon, Andy and Eddie paid a visit to the shopping center to help with any emotional trauma witnesses might have experienced after hearing gunshots and being locked in stores.
Several mall store employees and visitors pet and interacted with the dogs.
Columbus Police Sergeant Chantay Boxill with the therapy dog unit says those interactions are important in helping people come back from what was a traumatic experience for a lot of people.
She added, with incidents like Wednesday’s shooting, going back to the scene can make someone relive what happened to them.
Police said everyone they interacted with Thursday afternoon seemed to be doing a lot better and just happy to see some sweet animals out and about.
While petting a dog won’t reverse or make them forget the shooting at Polaris it’s made all the difference in healing from them.
“We had two kids yesterday, they’re walking out. They’re with their mom, and the mom’s racing,” Sgt. Boxill said.
“She wants out and the kids are all over the dog. So, I hope they take away how much better they feel. Just from a couple hugs and to know that the division of police does care about their mental wellness as well as their physical wellbeing.”
The therapy dog unit helps with these kinds of incidents and other traumatic events all the time since they started in 2019.
They plan on returning to Polaris on Friday to make sure everyone’s doing okay.
As far as the investigation goes, Columbus police are asking anyone with information on Wednesday’s shooting to call them at 614-645-4545.