Kentucky mall reopens a day after disturbances

Those incidents may have involved as many as 1,000 to 2,000 teens, according to the St. Matthews Police Department.

The night before, up to 2,000 teens created mayhem at Mall St. Matthews as the shopping center was filled with post-Christmas shoppers, police said.

He said that teens mostly outnumbered the police force, and the primary focus of the security officers was to disperse crowd and restore the order. But as police began to arrive at the mall, the calls increased in concern, with groups breaking out into fistfights and people reporting shots fired both inside and outside the complex.

Several law enforcement agencies, including the SMPD, the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Jeffersontown Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, then converged on the mall along with K-9s and a helicopter.

“We thought it was the theater next to us and didn’t think anything of it. Then when we went to leave, the manager of the theater was telling us once we leave the theater we can’t come back in, and there were police officers outside telling us to go straight to our cars and leave immediately and not hang around because they were still trying to get the situation under control”, said witness Sarah Gerichs. Police planned to meet soon with mall management to discuss ways to prevent a recurrence of the unruly behavior, McDonald said. “Disturbances started to feed on themselves”, McDonald said.

“We’re kind of at the mercy of mall policies”, McDonald said. Officers “maintained a presence” until 1 a.m., McDonald said, adding: “We’re all exhausted”.

Jayshawn Howard, 15, who works at the McDonald’s across the street, said he had stopped by the mall after work to shop for new clothes, but he left before any fights broke out and only saw what happened on videos sent to him by friends. “We think they were communicating using social media”, he said. “If they refuse to leave, then it becomes a law enforcement issue”. One suggestion by police was a possible policy requiring juveniles under a certain age to be accompanied by a parent when at the mall.

The disturbances lasted more than two hour until finally the mall closed at 8 p.m.

“I closed the gate right here, so if you see, there is nobody right here”.