Teenage girls arrested after fight at Monroeville Mall

Five people, including four teenage girls, were arrested Monday after two incidents at the Monroeville Mall, police said.

Monroeville police Chief Doug Cole said the girls were involved in a fight, which was quickly diffused. Extra officers and mall security were on hand because of expected crowds the day after Christmas.

The fifth person arrested was an 18-year-old man for disorderly conduct.

Cole said the mall’s youth escort policy, which is typically reserved for weekends, was enforced Monday night when it was noticed that 20-30 kids were loitering. The policy doesn’t allow anyone under the age of 18 in the mall without a parent after 6 p.m., usually on Fridays and Saturdays.

A mall spokeswoman said security is trained to approach anyone under 18, and if their ID doesn’t prove that they are old enough, they have to leave or have their parent join them.

Someone on social media posted a photo from inside Dick’s Sporting Goods with the gates pulled down over the door. The post said shoppers were kept inside the store because of fights breaking out in the mall.

“I'm pretty surprised. Whenever I go shopping up there, there's never been anything going awry. There's kids hanging out, but nothing unusual. They're not causing problems,” Lea Brown, who frequently shops at the mall, said.

Despite Dick’s response to the incidents, a mall spokesperson said the mall was never on lockdown.

Cole said the fight on Monday was small and nothing like a large brawl two years ago that prompted mall management to develop its youth escort policy.

“You would think since it happened on a Christmas break two years ago, they would enforce it the entire Christmas break,” shopper Sue Pepper said.

A mall spokesperson said the shopper center's managers are not planning to implement the youth escort policy during the week unless they begin to see additional issues with teenagers loitering.

There will be additional security for the rest of the week.

Cox Media Group