Brawls erupt at Monroeville Mall

Police from several communities were called when a half-dozen fights erupted in the Monroeville Mall on Friday afternoon and evening after an estimated 1,000 juveniles and young adults responded to social media calls to come to the mall, the police chief said.

Two males required hospital treatment after being injured in fights that began erupting about 5 or 5:30 p.m. and continued sporadically until mall officials decided to close the shopping venue early, Chief K. Douglas Cole said.

There were no arrests, but citations and charges could be filed when the investigation is completed. Cole said.

It is not known what sparked the violence between crowds of young people, most of them estimated at being between the ages of 14 and 19, the chief said.

He said there was no advance warning of the coming problems and police did not know about the social media postings until later.

“Mall security began noticing lots of young adults and juveniles about 4 or 4:30 p.m.,” Cole said. “Why they came we do not know, but mall security estimates there about 1,000 kids. They were pretty adamant about that.”

Mall management did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One boy was taken to Children's Hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the first fight that erupted about an hour later, Cole said.

The other boy was taken to a local hospital following one of the later fights, many of which were captured on video by mall visitors.

One video posted on social media shows at least a dozen people, most of them young women, punching, gouging and kicking each other.

Cole said officers from his department were joined by officers from Allegheny County Police, Pitcairn, Trafford, Churchill and Wilkins in trying to restore order.

Mall management decided about 8:30 p.m. to close the mall, which was scheduled to remain open until 10 p.m., Cole said. Port Authority buses were summoned ahead of schedule to help disperse the crowd, he said.

The violence started about 3:30 p.m. when a man and a woman were arrested for a domestic dispute that was unrelated to the later chaos, the chief said.

“It was,” Cole said, “a busy night.”

Michael Hasch is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7820 or mhasch@tribweb.com.