Mall St. Matthews in Kentucky had to close up earlier than usual on Saturday, according to a report by WLKY.
According to the report, there were numerous “disturbances” Saturday evening that resulted in between 40 to 50 officers from various local law enforcement agencies on scene, surrounding the entire mall and trying to break up the large group of young people outside of the mall causing chaos.
Police received reports about fights, as well as shots fired inside the mall and in the parking lot, but the reports of gunshots have not been confirmed. No injuries have been reported and no one has been arrested.
Law officers believe there was up to 2,000 youths, between the ages of 13 and 20, running around the mall, through doors and out into the parking lot.
About 8 p.m., authorities began advising stores in the mall to close their doors, but those involved in the brawls were refusing to leave. “Businesses were in the process of closing their doors, steel grates, and you had juveniles that were not allowing businesses to close up,” said St. Matthews police spokesman Dennis McDonald.
McDonald said nobody was arrested because officers were too busy breaking up the large group of unruly people.
“I don’t believe this was organized, I believe this was random. I believe this was a by-product of juveniles congregating and there being some disturbances growing out of that. Fights if you will. Those kind of things and escalating out of control. As quick as we would get there, they would disperse move to another location and what we’ve tried to do is just to keep them moving,” McDonald added.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.