Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh was descended on by 1,000 teenagers the day after Christmas, prompting at least six big fistfights, and forcing an early closure over security concerns.
"She was scared, as adults we were scared," Christine Smatlak, who was in the mall with her daughter,
told local news station WTAE. "You could just hear the yelling, screaming. You could see kids jumping, kicking someone else."
Police were called to the scene around 5 p.m., and broke up an increasing number of fights. Mall management finally decided to shut the whole place down early just a few hours later.
"The fights de-escalated initially. They did notice the mall had an influx of many juveniles, probably as many as 1,000 is the estimate, that were congregating here at the mall on this nice Friday evening. That continued to cause more issues in the mall itself with groups moving through the mall," said Monroeville Police Chief Doug Cole. He said word of the fights spread on social media, prompting more teens to visit the mall, and more teens to brawl.
Some speculated that the influx could have something to do with protests at other malls staged following the deaths of Michael Brown of Missouri and Eric Garner of New York, but police said there was no indication the congregating was in any way related.
"It appeared to be no type of a protest, just that there were many juveniles and I mean the age category of 19 or 20 years of age."
Two minors were injured during the fights, and were taken to the hospital. Their injuries were said to be non-life threatening.
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