Roaming mobs of teenagers conflict in San Francisco mall brawls as bystanders caught in crosshairs: ‘I am very scared’
Mobs of teenagers have clashed in a series of violent brawls at San Francisco malls, caught on video in a hand-to-hand fight, attacking and stomping on each other as well as seemingly innocent bystanders.
The San Francisco Police Department told Fox News Digital in a statement that three separate incidents occurred at the Stonestown Galleria mall from March 15-17, in which groups of youth attacked each other or bystanders.
“On Friday, several youths were sprayed with pepper spray by other youths,” the department said. “Officials responded to the scene and the youth was evicted from the area. Officers discovered a youth suffering injuries as a result of the physical altercation.”
The victim was being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. No arrests were made.
Cellphone video from an incident at a Target store around 4 p.m. Friday shows a group of young people lunging at a man and then knocking him to the ground.
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Groups of teenagers have been involved in multiple fights at a San Francisco mall in recent days.
“In recent weeks, there have been altercations between young people at the Stonestown Shopping Center, resulting in physical injuries,” District 7 supervisor Myrna Melgar wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
“Stonestown private security was overwhelmed and SFPD officers were deployed. Videos of the clashes were posted and promoted live on Instagram.”
Melgar said the mall will increase its security patrols.
“I’m very scared,” food court clerk Guang Wei, who witnessed one of the food court fights, told CBS Bay Area. “I can’t keep doing business here in this environment.”
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Supervisor Joel Engardio told the station that the city is 500 police officers below what it should be for a city of its size.
“We need police officers who are on the beat, who are on the street, who are in malls like Stonestown,” Engardio said. “We don’t have that luxury at the moment because we have so few police officers.”
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The police department told Fox News Digital that it is “working closely with mall officials to assess the security measures in place to combat criminal activity, particularly the acts of violence and physical altercations.”
The San Francisco Police Department has been plagued by staff shortages in recent years, with the number of full-time sworn officers declining 12% from 2019 to 2022, CBS News reported last month. As of January, the department employed 1,537 officers, well below the recommended 2,182 officers, according to City Warden Matt Dorsey.
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“San Francisco is on the precipice of a potentially catastrophic police shortage, and there are too many public safety issues that we will be helpless to confront unless we first start solving the SFPD’s understaffing crisis,” Dorsey said in a previous one declaration year.
Mayor London Breed diverted $120 million from law enforcement to fund other city initiatives in 2020 as crime in the city continued to rise – with a 20% increase in homicides in 2020 compared to 2019. Homicides increased 17% increase in 2021 compared to the previous year. according to the city.
By December 2021, Breed made an emergency request to the Board of Supervisors to allocate more funding to the Metropolitan Police, but the department struggled to achieve an ideal staffing position.
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People sit at Alamo Square overlooking the San Francisco skyline.
“There is no excuse for violence, but there are steps we can take to prevent this type of behavior from becoming pervasive in our schools and our city,” Mayor Breed said Tuesday in a lengthy joint news release with the San Francisco Unified School District, addressing steps being taken to address juvenile delinquency in the city.
“As city leaders, we are committed to working with the school district to ensure our children are safe and receiving the support they need, especially after the incredible toll our young people have endured over the past few years.”
Melgar said in the press release that “the majority of youth at the crime scene are bystanders who live recorded this violence and posted it on social media to elicit likes and more followers.”
“We are outraged by the unacceptable behavior at Stonestown Galleria, which is a clear violation of our code of conduct,” a spokesman for the mall told Fox News Digital. “We are working closely with school, city and law enforcement agencies to address this issue.”
“The safety and well-being of our guests and renters is our top priority and we will not tolerate this disruptive behavior.”
Police told Fox News Digital that they “have no evidence that these incidents are related, nor are they linked to any school or school activity.”
“We have not determined where these youth are from and we cannot confirm the schools these students attend.”
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.
