Teens arrested at Philadelphia Mills Mall after melee
NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Police say four teens have been arrested after at a melee at the Philadelphia Mills Mall Tuesday night. The teens are only between 13 and 17 years old, according to police. The disruptions are apparently part of some planned flash mob.
The general manager of Philadelphia Mills Mall instructed her security staff that no one under the age of 18 should be allowed inside unless they're accompanied by an adult. That comes from Philadelphia police who say they were alerted a flash mob was possibly going to take place Tuesday evening.
Wednesday, police said they learned about it by social media at about 2pm Tuesday. Then, at about 3pm, SEPTA buses pulled up to the mall and dropped off hundreds of teenagers. Mall security tried to prevent them from entering, but at some point they got in.
At about 5pm, police say about six separate groups of 15 made their way into the food court and refused to leave, while about 30 of them fought. Police officers working at the mall found ten security officers trying to get the teens to leave the food court, but they yelled at the security officers and refused to leave.
According to the detailed police account, officers ordered the groups to leave the mall, but the teens yelled at the officers and refused.
Police say it took two hours for the mall to return to normal. They claim between 300 and 400 teens took part in this "flash mob" incident with others kicking cars in the parking lots and being a physical menace to shoppers.
Police say the four young people arrested are charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespass, causing/risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, hinder apprehension, terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, failure to disperse, harassment, loiter and prowl, and disorderly conduct-fighting.