CINCINNATI —
A large fight involving teenagers broke out at Northgate Mall in Colerain Township on Thursday.
The fight happened at the mall’s food court just before 6 p.m., according to police at the scene. Police said nearly 200 juveniles were inside the mall at the time of the fight, but it’s unclear how many of them were involved in the fight.
According to police, hundreds of children planned to meet up at the mall, despite Northgate Mall’s curfew that begins at 5 p.m. for all teenagers and children. A teenager created a Facebook post inviting others to Northgate Mall at 6:30.
Police said 30 to 40 teenagers entered the mall at a time, so it was difficult for mall security to control the large influx of people.
“When you show up in 30 and 40 at a time, you’re in the parking lot and you walk through the doors, you’re one cop. What are you going to do when you got three or four different entry places?” said Jim Love, with Colerain Township police.
Jackie Cella, who was a witness, described what she saw.
“They were fighting the police, literally putting their hands, punching the police. There was a woman, the cop had a pellet gun, and she was getting beat up and all the men come running down and then all those kids start jumping on the police officers in there,” said Cella.
Police said some of the teenagers walked away in handcuffs for public fighting, aggression toward police and disorderly conduct.
Crowds of kids still scattered outside Northgate Mall after police say a fight broke out inside the food court. Incident involved 200 juveniles. Police still working on clearing them from the area. @WLWT pic.twitter.com/9SQLFUaKTn
— Helena Battipaglia WLWT (@HelenaWLWT) December 27, 2019