Community reacts to large fight at Short Pump Town Center

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A large fight at Short Pump Town Center on Saturday night forced the mall to close early, according to Henrico Police. The incident happened around 7 p.m.

The video 12 On Your Side obtained shows children running away from the mall and police with guns drawn.

The Henrico Police Department is now saying the preliminary investigation indicates there was a social media post for a ‘takeover event,’ which drew a large crowd of middle to high school age children to the property in the early evening hours.

Several dozen teens were dropped off at the mall unsupervised and were seen running around to different areas of the property. Henrico Police is working with mall security to investigate the situation.

There were reports of possible gunshots heard on the property, which turned out to be false. There were no reported injuries involved.

Kayden Rogers was near the Kroger adjacent to the mall when the fight broke out and said he did not witness any fighting directly.

“I was by the Kroger area, and I was just leaving there, grabbing some groceries. I was coming out of the Kroger, a whole bunch, a swarm of kids came out; it had to be at least 50 kids came out of nowhere. And they were all running and screaming and whatnot,” Rogers said.

Joshua McKenzie was at Short Pump the day after to eat with his family and said the events would not stop him from returning, but believes action should be taken to prevent a recurrence.

“Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. You know, up here you don’t really hear about all that, you know, Short Pump is kind of you know your higher end places, so I was really stunned to hear about it,” McKenzie said. “I think upping the security would be good just so everybody feels comfortable coming here.”

Rogers echoed the call for increased oversight.

“I definitely think that there should be more supervision around the area. I mean this is a place where people come to linger or have fun so if you’re messing up the security of that, what’s the point of coming to the mall you know,” Rogers said.

Amanda Olson, another shopper, said that the problems start outside of the mall.

“I think it’s 100% parents, it starts at the house and better parenting for sure,” Olson said.

No arrests were made. Henrico Police was already at the mall from a previous shoplifting incident from Dick’s Sporting Goods, where One juvenile male was arrested and taken into custody.

Henrico Police encourages parents and guardians to stay informed about where their children are going and what they are doing, as it says large ‘takeover events’ are a growing nationwide trend.

Mall security was prepared for any incidents on Sunday, along with off-duty officers already assigned to the location. Patrol units were also set to be in the area throughout the day.

12 On Your Side reached out to Short Pump Town Center officials regarding whether any additional security measures have been added but we haven’t heard back.

Anyone with further information about this situation is asked to email police@henrico.gov.