Massive Brawl Erupts Among Teenagers at Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance
Torrance, Calif. – A chaotic scene unfolded at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance on Sunday as a massive brawl broke out among teenagers. Video footage posted on social media captured the mayhem, with dozens, possibly hundreds, of teens and young adults running around the mall and engaging in multiple fights.
The Torrance Police Department received reports of the fight around 4 p.m. and immediately dispatched a large police presence to the scene. However, it took several hours for officers to disperse the crowds, prompting the city to issue warnings urging the public to stay away from the mall.
Authorities estimate that there may have been as many as 1,000 juveniles involved in the disturbance. While there were reports of gunfire, no serious injuries or victims have been located at this time.
Eyewitnesses told reporters that some of the fights appeared to have originated near the AMC movie theater. Sunday marked National Cinema Day, with theaters across the country offering discounted $4 tickets. This promotion attracted large crowds of young people to various movie theaters, leading to similar brawls in other areas, including the Bay Area, Stockton, Indiana, Boston, upstate New York, and New Hampshire.
“It was just chaos,” said witness Connor Swan. “Everybody was just running, going to the movie theater. Everybody was just jumping on top of people.”
Jenna, a manager at the BJ’s restaurant in the mall, described the scene as chaotic and revealed that they had to lock their doors to prevent more people from entering. “Just everyone was running up and down the AMC stairwell,” she said. “It was mass chaos.”
Due to the size of the crowd, the Culver City Police Department was called in to assist the Torrance PD with crowd control. Multiple patrol cruisers and dozens of officers were present at the mall to restore order.
While there is no evidence suggesting a direct connection between the brawls at different movie theaters, the discounted tickets for National Cinema Day seemed to have attracted large groups of young people to these locations.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident and are urging anyone with information or video footage to come forward. The Del Amo Fashion Center has not released a statement regarding the incident.
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