Eight juveniles from Aurora and North Aurora have been charged in connection with a large fight Monday night that led to police shutting down Fox Valley Mall.
Police held a press conference Tuesday afternoon where they released few new details on the incident.
Police said the fights were possibly organized through social media but they were not certain.
“There’s no indications that it’s gang related to us right now,” said Cmdr. Mike Doerzaph of the Aurora Police Department. “We don’t know if it’s strictly social-media driven.”
Those charged range in age from 13 to 17, police said.
"All of the charges lodged are misdemeanors, however, police are not ruling out enhancing them to felonies," police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said. "They also say more arrests are possible."
Ferrelli said Aurora Police were called by mall security around 6:30 p.m. after a large group of teenagers were seen gathering in the food court area. Shortly after they were told to leave, a large fight broke out, police said. Several smaller altercations then took place. More than 1,000 patrons were in the common area at the time.
“The safety and security of our guests, employees and tenants at Fox Valley Mall is always our top priority,” a spokesman for the mall said Tuesday in a statement. “While we are not able to speak about specific security measures, please know that we work closely with the local and national law enforcement on all matters related to mall safety.
An Aurora Police sergeant and mall security employee were both battered, Ferrelli said. No mall patrons were injured.
"The disturbance quickly escalated as the crowd refused to obey police and security personnel orders with some of the teens throwing drinks and other items," he said.
front row seats for what started the fox valley mall fights pic.twitter.com/Qa2wALQxlb
— Esther (@_esther74) December 27, 2016
A woman who works in the food court and saw much of the commotion said stores started closing as the fight ensued.
“They all started running upstairs away from the cops and some of them were fighting the cops and then they evacuated everybody out here," Yareli Vargas said.
The mall was closed for an hour and about 75 officers from the Naperville, Woodridge, St. Charles, Geneva, Kane and DuPage County Sheriffs, Illinois State Police, Fox Valley Park District and the West Chicago Police Departments were used to control the situation.
A 17-year-old girl was charged with battery and resisting police, police said. A 15-year-old girl was charged with resisting police and disorderly conduct; and two girls, ages 13 and 15, were charged with battery, along with a 15-year-old boy. Two 14-year-old boys and a 16-year-old girl were charged with obstructing police.
As police continue to investigate what role this fight played in other fights and disturbances at malls across the country, they ask anyone with information about the Fox Valley Mall incident to call Aurora Police Investigations at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000.
