The Lakewood Center closed its doors early on Saturday night as hundreds of teenagers were involved in disturbances that spilled into the mall parking lots, where around 100 teenagers climbed on cars, lit fireworks and caused additional mayhem, authorities said.
Group of teens force Lakewood Center Mall to close early after causing "disturbance" https://t.co/ag63lndqHa
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Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lakewood Station responded to the Lakewood Center at around 8 p.m. on Saturday night and found dozens of teens causing a disturbance in the area, said watch commander Sgt. Robert Martinez.
Deputies began to try and separate the teens and send them home.
Earlier, a social media post led about 300 juveniles to gather starting at 2 p.m. at the mall at Lakewood Boulevard and Candlewood Street, said Deputy Tracy Koerner of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. The juveniles came and went throughout the afternoon.
There may have been a fight early on that was quickly stopped by deputies, Koerner said.
The Lakewood Sheriff’s Station called for help from the Century, Norwalk and Pico Rivera stations to help get the juveniles out of the stores and the mall, he said.
Social media videos from the scene show teens running inside the mall, with deputies standing inside stores ushering them outside.
No arrests, thefts or injuries were reported, Koerner said.
The center closed at 7 p.m., two hours earlier than the usual 9 p.m. closing time on Saturdays.
KCAL video taken from over the scene about 9 p.m. showed the mall deserted except for multiple sheriff’s patrol vehicles.
