A new wave is taking over younger Generation Zers and older Gen Alphas, ages 13-24. The world of street fighting has matured from its days of WorldStar one-on-ones to the current “Twenty-Twenties” flash mob chaos advertised ever so loudly on social media.
Multitudes of underage individuals were involved in such a thing at The Pike Outlets in downtown Long Beach, CA on Saturday (March 16). The spectacle drew hundreds of onlookers to watch an adult woman fight a teen girl. A viral invitation made it to the Long Beach Police Department, prompting the unit to respond quickly to the out of control melee.
Stores had to close early while innocent shoppers were forced to be removed from the premises. The two women involved were arrested as the police worked to clear the hyped crowd. In the midst of the teens scattering, an unidentified teen male was found with a gunshot wound nearby and rushed to the hospital. He is currently in stable condition.
Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish released a statement, “In addition to spreading available resources throughout various other parts of the city, we found it necessary to declare a Stage 2 Tactical Alert, meaning we held over our day shift officers and deployed our afternoon shift officers quickly to ensure we were able to support the group activity in downtown, as well as respond to calls for service citywide.”
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“At one point, a fight broke out, and officers immediately intervened by running into a large crowd, taking control of the situation, and arresting both suspects involved. Shortly thereafter, a shooting occurred outside of The Pike area – again, officers were almost immediately on scene and began providing medical aid to the victim. We’re actively investigating the incident and will hold the suspect responsible for their actions,” Chief Hebeish finished.
This isn’t the first time mass disruption, now being labeled “flash mob violence,” has taken place. From California to Florida, violence among teens has spiked since the pandemic with footage of school-aged individuals participating in robberies, assaults, planned fights, and streetcar races.
In 2023, thousands of young people gathered at the Del Amo Fashion Center to observe multiple fights break out. The police were outnumbered, causing adult bystanders to get involved.
The surge of juvenile delinquencies can be stemmed from lack of resources, the cutting of after-school programs, influences of social media, and absence of parental guidance. The issue was specifically addressed on Fox 26 Houston where a panel discussed violence among spring breakers. Check it out below:
