Photo via WFTV-TV.
The West Oaks Mall in Ocoee, Florida was the scene of a St. Valentine’s Day riot by nearly one thousand middle and high school students, several of them armed, who stormed a movie theater at the mall and then looted a nearby gas station.
Police reported gun shots were fired in the air by the ‘teens’, but that no one was wounded.
Estimates of the size of the mob range from around 800 to 900. Only one person was reported to be arrested.
WESH-TV in Orlando, Florida reported on the riot.
“Investigators said about 800 teens tried to rush into the movie theater at the West Oaks Mall about 11 p.m., and a couple of hundred made it inside.
“When security guards were able to push the crowd outside, officials said the teens ran into a parking lot where fights erupted and gunshots were fired into the air.
“Authorities with the Ocoee Police Department said they heard more gunshots and responded to a nearby Taco Bell, where a teenager was arrested.
“Drugs and a stolen car were found during the investigation.
“Meanwhile, investigators said the teens moved across Colonial Drive and gathered at a nearby gas station.
“A whole bunch of kids came in the store and just started stealing stuff,” witness Taylor Davis said. “They (were) just taking everything out of the store, and then the kids (were) just trying to fight the owner, and everybody was just trying to fight.”
There were no political overtones to the riot reported. No chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot!” or “Black lives matter”–as occurred at recent riots around the country–have been mentioned in any of the news reports on the Ocoee riot by the ‘teens’.
