One of Kentucky's largest malls was forced to shut down a day after Christmas due to the uncontrollable teens who caused disturbances to the entire area.
NBC News reported that on Dec. 27, Sunday, the mall reopened at 11 a.m. and returned to normal business operation.
Meanwhile, the mayhem began on Saturday at around 7 p.m ET. At such time, there were six St. Matthews police officers assigned to the mall and responded to "disturbances," Dennis Mcdonald, the police spokesperson told NBC News.
On that night, the police said there were more than 2,000 teens involved in the chaos at Mall St. Matthews, according to Fox News.
The shopping center was jam-packed by post-Christmas shoppers when the incident took place.
"As they were responding to those disturbances, others were breaking out. Disturbances started to feed on themselves," McDonald said.
The number of calls for service and reports of disorder quickly escalated. In just a matter of an hour at around 8 p.m., the mall decided to close early. However, there were other teens stopping businesses to shut down, he explained.
The police received reports of gunshots fired inside and outside the mall. However, they have not confirmed those reports yet.
Some business establishments around the mall also closed due to panic when teens and young adults flooded out, the police said.
"It took about an hour and a half, close to two hours before things were calm," McDonald said. He also added that it was a riot and crazy.
According to the police, there was no arrest made and only cases of minor injuries were reported.
During the disturbance, there were 50 police officers sent out to respond. Jeffersontown, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, and Louisville Metro Police helped out St. Matthew's police.
In cooperation with the mall management, the police planned to discuss ways to avoid the same chaos from happening again in the future.
