Up to 2,000 teenagers forced management to shut down Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, Ky., Saturday night. Starting around 7:00 p.m., there were reports of teens involved in fights, leading to chaos, according to NBC affiliate LEX18. St. Matthews police were called to the scene, but needed assistance from Jeffersontown and Louisville Metro police and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department as well. The mall reopened Sunday morning.
Officer Dennis McDonald, a spokesperson for the police department has stated that the disruptions were mainly caused by unsupervised teenagers, who were apparently just dropped off, or took public transportation to get to the mall, according to CBS News.
"I don't believe this was organized, I believe this was random. I believe this was a by-product of juveniles congregating and there being some disturbances growing out of that. Fights if you will. Those kind of things and escalating out of control. As quick as we would get there, they would disperse move to another location and what we've tried to do is just to keep them moving," he continued, according to CBS News.
Management shut the mall down early, around 8:00 p.m., but the crowds spilled into the parking lot, and forced other nearby businesses to close early as well. Other businesses were urged to close.
"A lot of the juveniles were being confrontational. Officers were being cussed at, yelled at, harassed," McDonald continued, according to ABC News. Despite this, no arrests were made, and only a few minor injuries, due to "running" and "shoving" were reported.
The mall reopened at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. It contains over 100 stores, numerous restaurants, and a movie theater, making it one of Kentucky's largest malls.
