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Juvenile violence at Stonestown Galleria prompts security changes
A recent series of incidents at Stonestown Galleria, involving juveniles who are fighting one another and setting off pepper spray, has prompted police investigations as well as changes to security measures at the San Francisco shopping mall.
SAN FRANCISCO - A swarm of fist fights are plaguing a San Francisco mall. Those fights have been posted to social media and each one is more appalling than the last. Now the mall has stepped up security and police are on scene.
Video after video are circulating on social media of a series of fights at Stonestown Galleria shopping center in the city's Lake Merced neighborhood. One showing assailants kicking a person on the ground, another shows an assailant pushing someone into a door then punching them, and a third shows a violent fight inside a Target store.
San Francisco police say the fights occurred between Wednesday and Friday of last week. "We're still investigating what led up to these fights what caused these and we're working with officials at the shopping center to address any security concerns," said Robert Rueca from the San Francisco Police Department.
KTVU reached out to the mall's parent company, Brookfield Properties. They said they take the situation seriously, and they will not tolerate it and that fights are a violation of their code of conduct and they are working with San Francisco police to increase security
Inside Stonestown Monday, there was a visible police presence with SFPD officers walking through the mall. Young people inside the mall say even if they haven't witnessed the fights themselves, they've seen the videos.
"I've heard that it was pretty wild," said one young man. "I know that a lot of things at Target got trashed. But, I don't know, just in general it was pretty chaotic from what I've heard."
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The supervisor for the district, Myrna Melgar, posted to Twitter that she had reached out to police and the school district, saying the fights seem to coincide with San Francisco Unified School District's early release days. The district says it cannot comment on any incident involving a student, but also said any violence will not be tolerated.
Students at nearby Lowell High School say the students are aware of the fights. "I think it's high school students," said one student. "I don't know if it was Lowell kids. But, there's people getting jumped and stuff."
San Francisco police say they're working closely with the mall, and say at this point the fights are under investigation and there have been no arrests.