After the performance of boy band Mindless Behavior at Ford City Mall in Chicago, two boys started a fight that erupted into a riot involving 200 teens, reported The Christian Science Monitor.
The two boys started the encounter in the Chicago mall, which started a riot through the premises and escalated into the parking lot. It transcended to the point where some teens climbed on top of cars. Police ended up arresting 19 youths between the ages of 13 and 18 and charged them with misdemeanor mob action.
One 16-year-old resorted to violently offending security and was charged with battery of a mall guard who was doing his job of evacuating the mall, according to the Associated Press.
Mindless Behavior had performed in the mall 45 minutes before the riot broke out at 4:45 p.m. Ford City Mall's senior general manager John Sarama found there was no relation between the boy band's appearance and the incident. But he questions the meaning behind the boy band's lyrics and whether it can create public unrest.
Approximately 1,000 teens and children arrived for the performance, most of the crowd were girls under 13 with parents, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Two people left with minor injuries following the disturbance and the Chicago police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak reported the teens who were arrested were both males and females. The mall closed soon after 50 police cars arrived at the scene, where they witnessed 100 to 200 people vandalizing vehicles in the mall's parking lot.
"A group of older youths came into the mall with the intent of causing havoc and chaos, and were running through the mall, screaming, yelling and so forth," Sarama said. "What would make these youths comes here to try and cause this kind of commotion and trouble? I don't know. But they did have a plan in mind."
