PLANTATION, Fla. – At the height of his celebrity, "Beverly Hills 90210" actor Luke Perry was once the subject of a Local 10 News story after 21 people were injured in a stampede during his brief appearance at a South Florida mall.
Perry, who died Monday after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 52, had been scheduled to attend an autograph session at the old Fashion Mall in Plantation on Aug. 10, 1991. But when the teen heartthrob finally showed up, the throng of teens who had waited hours to see him rushed the stage.
"People just starting pushing a lot and I fell to the floor ... and people stepped on me, on my back," Kristie Quinones, who was one of the teens in the crowd, told Local 10 News at the time.
A 14-year-old girl broke her leg in the stampede, and 13 others were treated at nearby hospitals for minor injuries.
Quinones' mother said she was angry there wasn't more security from the start.
"The shoving and pushing started since 12 o'clock," Norma Quinones said.
When things got out of hand, mall officials quickly canceled Perry's appearance.
"We knew it'd be bigger than the average crowd," mall manager Carol Joyce said at the time.
Joyce said they anticipated about 4,000 people, estimating that the crowd was probably closer to 10,000 people.
In the aftermath of the chaos, police were busy trying to get the crowd to disperse. That's because the teens didn't believe Perry had really left the mall.
The mall had to close for several hours while police restored order.
"It was obvious that the problem was going to continue if we didn't shut down the mall," Sgt. Joe Bush said at the time.
The Fashion Mall closed in 2007 and was later demolished to make way for the new Plantation Walk development.