No trouble was reported as of this afternoon at the Monroeville Mall, which reopened today under heightened police watch after a series of fights broke among 1,000-plus teenagers and young adults Friday night, prompting the venue to close early.
Two injuries not believed to be life-threatening were reported in the skirmishes that began on the first floor and moved upstairs, startling shoppers on the day after Christmas and drawing police from multiple communities. Authorities expected to cite at least one for disorderly conduct, in addition to a pair of arrests made earlier Friday over a domestic dispute.
Monroeville Police Chief K. Douglas Cole said Saturday he knew of no connection between the disturbance at the mall in his community and problems reported Friday in at least three other malls elsewhere in the nation.
Some mall stores within Independence Center in Independence, Mo., were locked down Friday night after several hundred youths congregated inside, with some fights breaking out, The Kansas City Star reported.
In Sacramento, Calif., Arden Fair Mall closed early after similar trouble was reported there, according to CBS 13 Sacramento.
Fighting also was reported Friday night among young people inside the Wolfchase Galleria mall in Memphis, Tenn., and Saturday night in the food court of Opry Mills Mall, said local news outlets, including WMC-TV and WSMV-TV.
In Monroeville, some in the crowd that was generally aged from 14 to 18 years old told police and mall security officers that they arrived in response to prompts on social media. “There was not a protest or any kind of specific thing ... just go to the mall ... kids were going to hang out,” the chief said.
They began trickling in mid- to late-afternoon, with the first 911 call coming into Allegheny County emergency dispatchers at 7:50 p.m., county spokeswoman Amie Downs said Friday night.
Police said fights spread as groups of people ran from one side of the 150-store mall to the other. Ultimately, officers from communities including Churchill, Wilkins, Trafford and Pitcairn responded under mutual aid calls along with county police.
Mr. Cole said he has been in contact with county police leadership today and they are prepared to offer assistance if needed.
The unexplained trouble Friday runs counter to a downward trend in recent years in various crimes at the mall from purse snatching to stolen cars, Mr. Cole said. For instance, the number of stolen cars has fallen at the mall from at least 200 yearly in the mid-1980s to none this year, part of a precipitous drop in those offenses across the municipality, he said.
Mr. Cole said the trouble was no doubt an unwelcome disruption for shoppers and store employees, and the injuries sent one unidentified individual each to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and Forbes Regional Hospital. He said he expects discussions to occur in the coming days involving both the mayor and mall management.
At the same time, Mr. Cole expressed relief that “we didn’t see or even hear of any types of weapons and certainly we are very happy that there were no serious injuries.”
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: BschacknerPG.
First Published: December 27, 2014, 8:31 p.m.
