PITTSBURGH — Hundreds of juveniles took over Market Square and created chaos after the City’s Juneteenth celebration on Friday night.
Pittsburgh Public Safety says up to 50 of those kids and teens got into a fight, forcing officers to deploy pepper spray.
Police say that due to escalating violence, assaults on officers and the confiscation of guns, the decision was made to shut down Market Square.
“People getting shot and killed and beaten up, it’s really getting bad,” Barbara Allen from Carnegie tells Channel 11. “Their parents let them do what they want to do. I’m afraid to come down here a lot of times. Someone shoots a gun at somebody; they could come over and kill me.”
By the end of the night, nine people were charged and three guns were recovered by officers.
On Monday, Mayor Corey O’Connor reacted to the violence.
“We’re aware of what’s been going on not only in Pittsburgh, but across the country with the teen takeovers,” Mayor O’Connor tells Channel 11.
Mayor O’Connor says his administration’s strategy is to keep teens engaged with special events and youth programs.
“When we’ve had special events in Market Square, our numbers have dwindled for incidents over the past few months, and unfortunately, on Friday that was not the case,” Mayor O’Connor said.
Market Square is no stranger to violent crime, and the city has seen its fair share of teen takeovers.
Last month, Channel 11 told you when a 16-year-old was charged as an adult after police said he shot and killed another teen outside of the same Chipotle.
Just last Wednesday in East Liberty, police say a crowd of 400 people got together at Liberty Green Park. Many of those gathering were teens who were fighting. Police say pepper spray also had to be used to break things up.
Market Square does have a chaperone policy in place from 3 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday. Since Juneteenth celebrations were underway and the event organizer had a permit, there was no chaperone policy in effect Friday night. The organizer ended up putting a chaperone policy in place for Saturday night.
While Channel 11 was getting ready for a live report Monday afternoon, around 3:30 p.m., a man was arrested after being tased by two officers.
Witnesses tell Channel 11 that he knocked over a barrier and was involved in a fight. We’ve reached out to Pittsburgh Public Safety. We’ll let you know when we learn more.
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