Tinley Park Carnival Canceled After Saturday Teen ‘Flash Mob' Led to 5 Citations

Authorities in suburban Tinley Park canceled the final day of a carnival after safety concerns emerged following a Saturday “flash mob” that saw more than 400 teens gather, with several citations reported.

According to officials, the gathering was organized on social media, and when the group gathered at the Armed Forces Weekend Carnival near the 80^th Avenue train station, they began running through a parking lot and “fighting with each other.”

A Tinley Park police officer was injured while responding to the situation, officials said.

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Five individuals were given citations for fighting in public, according to police. Several videos posted to social media showed chaotic scenes, with multiple fights taking place.

After learning what had taken place, one south suburban resident called the situation "disheartening."

"To hear that, you know, teens are running around acting in a way where we're fearful to even bring our families out in nice areas and nice neighborhoods to do fun things, It's really disheartening," said Mike Hawrysio.

Officials say that another gathering was being planned on social media, which led them to cancel Sunday’s conclusion of the event.

""We found something on social media that asked people to do the same thing as it did last night, and we're not going to put the residents at risk... so we opted to have the vendor cancel the event," said Pat Carr, Tinley Park's village manager.

Reports of gunshots at the event turned out to be unfounded, but caused confusion and panic in the crowd, according to officials.

NBC Chicago talked to one woman who, on Sunday, drove around 30 minutes from her home in University Park only to found out that carnival had been shut down.

"It's just really shameful that I'm not blaming anyone, but parents aren't having like a grip on their kids," Anita Jenkins said.