Philadelphia mall brawl leads to several arrests

PHILADELPHIA -- A disturbance at a northeast Philadelphia shopping mall Tuesday evening led to the arrests of four people.

The incident followed a number of disturbances at malls around the country Monday. Most of those involved large groups of juveniles. It was unclear whether they were connected in any way.

CBS Philly reports about 100 people, mostly teenagers, were involved in a fight Monday night at the Philadelphia Mills mall.

On Tuesday evening, the station says, some 200 people, mostly teens, arrived at the mall by city bus. Police and mall security managed to keep all but 30 from going inside.

But, says CBS Philly, the ones who entered started a ruckus in the food court.

Philadelphia Police Inspector Scott Small told the station, “They started acting disordely. They were running around; they were shouting, yelling, screaming.”

Some stores went into lockdown mode, lowering their protective gates with customers still inside, CBS Philly says.

Small told the station the teens were brought together by social media, mainly Snapchat but, “Police were ready for them. They were proactive.”

Charges against the four people who were arrested included disorderly conduct and failure to disperse. But felony counts of inciting a riot aren’t out of the question, CBS Philly reports.

Police say one person tried to attack an officer who was working to disperse the crowd.

No injuries were reported.

Also Tuesday, a mall in Appleton, Wisconsin was evacuated after reports of an active shooter. They turned out to be false.