Memphis police arrest 7 after disturbances at Wolfchase, Oak Court malls

Memphis police arrested seven people and had an eighth in custody Monday evening following melees at two malls that sent crowds scurrying and shut down Oak Court Mall early.

The two incidents were similar to others across the country, but Memphis police couldn't confirm any sort of coordinated effort, just a lot of social media chatter.

No one was injured in the local disturbances at Oak Court and Wolfchase Galleria and, despite reports to the contrary, no gunshots were fired. The disturbances did, however, cause Oak Court operators to shut down the East Memphis mall hours early Monday evening and, according to some reports on social media, left Wolfchase patrons detained inside stores for a time. 

MPD Deputy Chief Terry Landrum said outside Oak Court that the situation started at Wolfchase about 6:30 p.m.

"Somebody yelled 'gun!' and youths stampeded through the mall," Landrum said. "Pretty much the same thing happened here (at Oak Court). 

"A kiosk was knocked over, there was some other damage, but there were no shots fired. We had officers in both malls."

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Landrum said six were arrested at Wolfchase and another person was in custody. One person was arrested at Oak Court after she bumped an officer with a car.

Identities of those arrested were not available, and Landrum didn't know if they were all juveniles. 

Asked if the incidents were connected, possibly with other incidents across the nation, Landrum wasn't sure, but said there was a lot of talk on social media. He said he heard rumors of incidents at other locations in Memphis Monday evening but wasn't aware of any other confirmed activity. 

He said police would continue an increased police presence around the areas in coming days. 

Asked if he thought youths being out of school for the holidays was a factor, he said he was sure it was. 

"You've got a lot of kids who are unsupervised," he said. "The more children you have out, the more chance there is for something like this."
 

Oak Court Mall issues statement after disturbance

Groups of kids congregated on the parking lots of businesses around Oak Court Monday evening as officers kept watch until parents came to pick them up.

Rakelia Wilkinson was one of those inside Oak Court who was told to leave. She said the incident there started when at least one other girl intervened after a fight broke out between the a girl and her male companion in the food court. 

Wilkinson, 18, said mall patrons were told over the PA system to leave. Groups of youth congregated in the parking lot after leaving the mall until police moved them toward exits. About a dozen police cars surrounded the site. 

Police scanner communications had been calling for all available cars to converge on the mall. 

At Wolfchase, MPD spokesman Louis Brownlee said a large group of people started a disturbance inside the mall, also near the food court, about 6:30 p.m.

"Some patrons began calling 911 reporting shots fired, " Brownlee said. "There were several officers already on the scene and advised no shots were fired, and no injuries have been reported."

Brownlee said officers from the Appling Farms station were joined by Task Force officers, as well as Kilo Units that were on the scene. He said they cleared the parking lot of several unruly juveniles and adults. 

The crowd was dispersed, he said, and the situation brought under control. 

Reports were that some patrons were detained in stores at Wolfchase during the shutdown there. 

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Similar disturbances led to malls being evacuated in Elizabeth, New Jersey; Fayetteville, North Carolina; East Garden City, New York; Aurora, Colorado; Tempe, Arizona; and Beachwood Place, a suburb of Cleveland. About 10 people were injured during a melee at the Jersey Gardens mall in Elizabeth Sunday evening, Mayor Chris Bollwage said in a tweet.