A number of gunshots were fired in the Ikea parking lot in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday afternoon, but no one was hit and no one is in custody, police say.

The shots rang out about 4:30 p.m. PT in the ground level parking area underneath the large mezzanine-level store where hundreds of people were shopping.

An area of the parking lot was cordoned off with police tape as investigators pore over the scene.

Richmond RCMP Cpl Sherrdean Turley said police interviewed witnesses at the scene, but were unable to tell how many shots were fired or who the target may have been.

"Miraculously no one was injured and there was also no property damage. The suspects fled before we got there and the reasons this incident occurred are not yet known," said Turley.

Richmond RCMP officers investigate in an Ikea parking garage area after a report of shots fired. (Emily Elias/CBC)

One shopper, who did not want to be identified, said she parked nearby with her six-year-old daughter, but fortunately they decided to get a hot dog inside the store just before the shots were fired.

"It just makes me worry for the safety of the citizens of metro Vancouver. The violence is escalating," she said.

Cpl. Turley hopes anyone who saw or knows anything about this latest gunplay will give police a call.