SAVANNAH, Ga. () – The Chatham County District Attorney (DA) is requesting business owners preserve any possible evidence in last month’s shooting at Oglethorpe Mall as her office builds cases against the five people have been arrested.

“Even the slightest, tiniest bit of evidence that you think might not matter actually can make the difference in a case that is this big,” Chatham County DA Shalena Cook-Jones said.

Cook-Jones’ office sent letters to every business owner at the Oglethorpe Mall and mall security earlier this month, requesting they preserve anything that could be considered evidence in the case of the shooting.

obtained a copy of one of the letters.

“You can imagine in a situation like this one where it’s a very hectic scene and you have first responders there whose job it is to make sure first everyone is safe, people are not really thinking about could and could not be evidence. It could be a shoe. It could be a drop of blood. It can be a piece of clothing, a shell casing,” she said.

While the letters are technically only a request, the DA said there could be consequences for intentionally concealing evidence.

“Where we think that evidence might exist, we could send a subpoena for it and obtain it that way,” she said. “If we found that something did exist and perhaps it was destroyed despite the fact that we told them we needed it, there are a number of things that could possibly happen. There are charges for obstruction or tampering with evidence.”

The District Attorney’s office also has only a matter of months to make their case to a grand jury, the body that will ultimately decide whether the case should go to trial.

“Several of the suspects have been brought into custody. By law, they have to be indicted within 90 days, or they will be automatically entitled to a bond of some amount,” Cook-Jones said.

If any of the accused are granted bond, they would not have to wait in jail until they stand trial.

However, according to the DA, the clock isn’t the only thing her office will be battling.

“In the day of social media where nothing is sacred and people are throwing their opinions around about what they think should or should not happen, that makes it very hard to get a fair trial here, and that’s something we’ll also likely be fighting against once this case is resolved.”