Reckless fights between youth shut down North Riverside Mall
Courtesy of Travis Wood (youtube)
February 5, 2019
The scandal happened on Saturday night, December 29th at the North Riverside Park Mall.
People on social media like Facebook were promoting teenagers to bring their group of friends to Riverside Mall just to cause trouble for fun and fight other people. Eventually, two teenagers were arrested for causing a disturbance, which made the mall shut down. For all that happened that night many police officers from many police departments and were requested to help and try to calm things down around the mall and around the area. Even after the mall shutdown that Saturday night, many police officers kept a strong presence at the Cermak Plaza for more than two hours after the mall shut down.
“I’ve worked in that mall for 12 years, and I hated that mall; they should just take down the mall and rebuild it,” said security Lilian.
In 2013, the North Riverside Park Mall instituted a juvenile escort policy on Friday and Saturday evenings, which prohibits entry to anyone 18 or under unless they are accompanied by an adult 21 or over. The policy was instituted because of similar incidents around that time.
“I believe what (the fighters) did was really childish; they should have taken whatever they were doing somewhere else. They ruined it for people under 18 to get in,” Senior Jessica Gomez
Several businesses in the North Riverside Plaza and Cermak Plaza in Berwyn either shut their doors early or began restricting entry after juveniles leaving the mall started making their way east.
“I was one of the teenagers that were in the group, and it was fun until the cops kicked us out; I was really bummed about it,” Freshman James Gonzalez said.
Do you still feel comfortable shopping at North Riverside Mall?
Loading ...
Lyla 2 • Feb 22, 2019 at 11:31 am
Adding on to my comment the Video was posted “By Travis Wood Published on Dec 29, 2018” and the mall shut down happened On January 2nd 2019.
Lyla 2 • Feb 22, 2019 at 11:27 am
I work at the mall, and the day of the Trend to shut the mall down was January 2nd (I happened to be workings at both of my jobs that day) this Video is Not form that day.The day of the shut down every security guard was working and their was many different districts of Police officers present. There was No fights, but everyone was kicked out of the mall and it ended up closing down early This fight had happened before the shut down and it was confirmed by North-riverside security guards who I am friends with that no fights happened that day all kids did was mess up the mall by knocking garbage bins down and running around screaming, and trying to steal from many different stores. When leaving work after the mall was completely closed and only employees remained in the mall to clean up. There was 4 Police officers who remained in the food court so there was no way that this could have taken place that day (and it didn’t).
adviser • Feb 22, 2019 at 11:29 am
Wow. First off, you are super busy! Thanks for calling the reporters out on their error. It’s important for journalists to check their sources and double-check to make sure the information they are providing is accurate. That’s what journalism is all about. Otherwise, we are just FAKE NEWS!
Jessica 2 • Feb 18, 2019 at 7:59 pm
I was working at the mall this day and I noticed it was more packed than usual, there was a lot of teenagers. The securities started locking doors so no more people could get in until around 5 they announced that they were closing the mall. I remember after leaving work the traffic was really bad and there was a lot of police. Now the mall has a policy that kids under 18 years old cannot go in the mall without an adult.
Gerardo Ramirez • Feb 14, 2019 at 9:19 am
This stuff is really getting annoying like seriously fights these days happen for the stupidest reasons and if aren’t mature enough to just talk it out then at least have the decency to take your drama in a secluded area and if you fight just to cause drama then you really are a special gem and ill be blunt i don’t care about your fight because if you think you are gaining a reputation then you are only half right bud, because people are gonna remember you as that one guy who shut down the mall just for god knows what.
Dayanara Martinez • Feb 13, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Being a sophomore myself, it is ridiculous to see younger generations causing trouble like this. They are taking away privileges from those who weren’t involved and it isn’t fair, I can tell there is a lot of tension between those who were involved and those who weren’t. In my own opinion, I believe the parents of those children who thought that going into a public place and destroying it would be fun should know how to control and discipline their kids. Those kids and parents are the same people who get angry when the law decides to retaliate. I myself do not understand what the youth were trying to gain from this, as if this wasn’t going to cause attention and security. Younger generations don’t seem to have the same manners and respect anymore and that deserves consequences until they can learn how to act right in public. Although I don’t agree with the new policy at the mall, I think it will be effective.
Nancy Gutierrez • Feb 12, 2019 at 2:03 pm
iv shopped at riverside mall for years n years and when i heard that this fight was going on i didn’t believe it at first considering i never really take anything from online really seriously and events like the ones that happen in the mall to be real but when i heard that it actually happen i was shocked that this is what type of town or community we portray to be it was sad to hear and to know that people are not respectful of stuff and property and other people while they were trying to work or shop the first time i was actually effected by this was when i went to the mall about 2 week after this happen and i walked in and security had be placed in front and asked me if i had an adult i had said no and they made me wait at the door till my mom arrived from that moment i had know that what had happen was a lot more serious than i thought and they had ruined the opportunity for people under 18 to enjoy the mall and hang out with friends, i was very disappointed and furious.
Samantha Juarez • Feb 12, 2019 at 1:14 pm
I feel safe in riverside mall even after all the chaos that occurred there with the fights and the kids vandalizing and causing destruction. I agree with the senior when she said what they did was childish because who goes into a mall to cause drama just to be kicked out and arrested? They could have avoided it all by taking their business elsewhere. The kids who did this ruined it for all us behaved students who go to the mall just to have fun and shop. There was also much controversy because most or all of the kids involved were African american students. There was much racism and hate on these kids all over social media because what they did, left a bad image on themselves and their race. This article was good and well informing for those who didn’t know about the incident at North Riverside Park Mall.
Natalie Gallardo • Feb 12, 2019 at 1:04 pm
I thought the question at the end really tied the whole article together. I didn’t like however, the way the article was brought out it didn’t have enough information and didn’t really explain anything. The writer has to write more detail because they didn’t really explain. They did add comments from people who work there and outsiders from our school which shows us that what we say also matters. Also i really liked the comment she added about the boy who was actually part of the group because it shows that they were kids from here and that we might now not just some outsiders from other places but here.
Donna Mocha • Feb 12, 2019 at 11:13 am
I think that it’s very dumb of these groups of kids to think that it’s okay to cause a disturbance in a public area. There are kids and other teens just want to go to mall to have a nice time, and because of this they are going to have to be accompanied by an adult. Although I think that it’s a good thing that the mall put this rule that kids now have to be with an older adult to prevent these things to ever happen again. Maybe with this, the mall will be able to take that rule out and it would be able to be a safe place again.
Samantha Soto • Feb 12, 2019 at 11:04 am
I really think that what those people did was stupid and childish. It’s unfair to those kids who actually go to the mall to enjoy their time there. I honestly don’t feel comfortable shopping in riverside mall anymore, it’s dangerous to be there. I never really like the mall because it is small and there isn’t a lot of stores but what those people did wasn’t right. If they want to fight or play games they should do it outside of the mall or go somewhere else, people shouldn’t have to be scared or have an adult to go to the mall just because of everyone else.
Angel Meza • Feb 12, 2019 at 10:18 am
I think what the people did in the mall was really dumb. The mall is a public place to eveybody and just because some kids caused trouble on purpose they added more rules. Their were kids from different schools that were involed in this just because somebody posted this on the internet and the kids listened. I hope the mall can but the rules back to how they were and I hope the kids don’t do anything to mess thing up for family and friends that do go to the mall.