Roaming mobs of teens clashed in a series of three violent brawls at San Francisco’s Stonestown Galleria Mall. The events were captured on video from March 15 to March 17 as groups of juveniles attacked one another or bystanders.
Mobs of brawling teens terrorize shoppers at San Francisco Mall
In three separate incidents from March 15 to March 17, mobs of roaming teenagers descended on San Francisco’s Stonestown Galleria Mall. Groups of juveniles attacked one another or seemingly innocent bystanders.
The violent clashes were captured on video and promoted on both Twitter and Instagram, showing the altercations between the brawling hooligans attacking each other and sometimes stomping on people.
Another video taken inside a Target store showed a group of young people who pounced on a man, then slammed him to the ground.
Stonestown private security was overwhelmed, and SFPD officers were deployed, according to a post on Twitter that Fox News later reported.
“On Friday, several youths were pepper sprayed by other youth,” the San Francisco Police Department said. “Officers responded to the scene and the youth dispersed from the area. Officers discovered one youth suffering from injuries as a result of the physical altercation.”
According to police, the victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital. No arrests have been made.
SF cops say shortage of officers threatening public safety
In recent years, the San Francisco Police Department has been suffering from staff shortages, with a 12% decrease in full-duty officers from 2019 to 2022, according to a report by CBS News last month.
San Francisco Police Department supervisor Joel Engardio said in an interview that the city is short 500 officers from where it should be for a city of its size.
“We need police officers to walk the beat, be on the street, be at shopping centers like Stonestown,” Engardio said. “We don’t have that luxury right now because we have so few police officers.”
“San Francisco is on the precipice of a potentially catastrophic police staffing shortage, and there are too many public safety problems we’ll be helpless to solve if we don’t start solving SFPD’s understaffing crisis first,” San Francisco City Supervisor Matt Dorsey said in a statement earlier this year.
Regardless, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told Fox Digital the department is working closely with the shopping center officials to assess the security measures in place to address criminal activity, especially the violent acts and physical altercations.”
