INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Jan. 4, 2015) — Video showing the fights inside Castleton Square Mall Saturday night is going viral.
In the video clip, from the Twitter page @_YungRjay, you can hear the screams and see the people running. Customers who were caught in the middle of the mayhem, like Laurie West, say it was much worse.
“There was so many more people that you can’t see on this video,” West said, as we showed her the video clip. “I kid you not, hundreds of people running.”
West was at the mall with her mother when it all started.
“People were yelling ‘shots, shots’ and we had no idea what to do so we kinda ducked around a corner,” West said. “Just hearing the words ‘shots fired’ you just kinda like get down, get down.'”
Over the last few years, there have been other mall brawls in Indianapolis. Two years ago there was a span of time when large groups of people were fighting and shots were actually fired.
It’s making some shoppers afraid to go to the mall.
“I mean, in a way yeah, because I’ve heard about the stuff before but I’ve never actually seen it or been kinda right there in the middle of it,” West said.
Reverend Charles Harrison with the Ten Point Coalition saw the video and calls it “concerning.” He is in favor of rules, such as requiring people of certain ages be accompanied by an adult after certain times of day.
“My concern is that if we don’t put something in place, knowing the kids that are going to those malls, particularly if you’ve got gangs and neighborhood cliques going, my concern is that somebody is going to be seriously injured or killed,” Harrison said.
No one was hurt Saturday night and police were quick to respond thanks to “social media intelligence.” Messages were intercepted by social media experts within the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD). The messages were translated from social media lingo and given to other officers so they could be on standby in case something were to happen.
Harrison says his group includes teenagers whose job is to look for the same thing. Harrison says it works.
