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Are there any morals left in this Nation?
A mall in Ocoee, Florida, has been forced to impose a curfew after as many as 900 black teenagers, mostly girls, stormed a theater inside the mall so they could see the sexual bondage-themed film, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” on Valentine’s Day.
According to WKMG-TV in Florida, hundreds of middle- and high-school students rushed the AMC Theater at the West Oaks Mall after not being allowed into the R-rated movie.
Some reports indicate the riot was organized on social media weeks in advance.
Now unsupervised teenagers will no longer be allowed to be present at the mall in the evenings. The new rule is part of an effort to prevent the kinds of violent outbreaks that led movie-goers on Saturday night to frantically call 9-1-1, claiming they feared for their safety.
Florida’s Ocala Post interviewed several owners of businesses inside the mall after the incident.
“All of the business owners, who do not want their names used, have accused the mall of not taking proper measures for this type of situation to ensure the safety of employees and shoppers,” the Post reported. “According to business owners, they believe management is afraid of being labeled racist because it is only black teenagers that are causing the trouble. Store owners said it is not about race, but about right and wrong.”
One business owner said, “Something needs to be done before one of these teens gets killed, or the teens kill an innocent person. Not to mention this type of behavior is causing us to lose revenue. And the thing that really irritates me is that mall management and the media is not calling the situation what it really is.”
Experts say the black mob violence and disorder is part of a nationwide pattern.
Colin Flaherty, author of “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It,” said it’s just the latest example of mob violence hitting shopping malls all around the country, and the chaos is overwhelmingly perpetuated by black teenagers.
According to Flaherty, “This is similar to what happened in Jacksonville in Christmas 2013: 750 black people rushed a theater, then created havoc and violence in and out of the theater. The same kind of violence occurred in a mall in Salisbury, Maryland, not long ago. And there are so many more cases that I’ve documented again and again.”
“This kind of violence is why you see so many ‘struggling’ malls and why people are withdrawing from public spaces. Ordinary families simply don’t feel safe. And they probably shouldn’t feel safe, because the police seem more interested in shoving incidents like this under the rug than stopping them.”
Ocoee, Florida, teens storm mall theater showing of “Fifty Shades of Grey” on Valentine’s Day
During the Valentine’s Day riot in Florida, patrons were locked inside with the mob after the theater dropped metal gates over the entrance in an attempt to try to control the situation.
“It was like a herd of elephants coming up the corridor and races up the stairwell. Just bum-rushed the entire theater,” moviegoer Jessica Weckerly told WFTV-TV.
Lt. Mike Bryant of the Ocoee police told the Orlando Sentinel that the incident was simply “a lot of unruly kids running around being disrespectful.”
However, 9-1-1 calls provided by the Orlando Sentinel indicate that moviegoers were cursed at and threatened that they would be killed by the mob. One caller even estimated that thousands of people had “taken over” the entire mall.
“Kids show up with guns, shooting guns in the air, robbing people, stolen cars, drugs. That’s a big concern to us,” Lt. Paul Hopkins, of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, told WFTV.
Listen to the 9-1-1 calls:
WKMG-TV reported that fights erupted outside the mall after the disturbance was quelled, and robberies also took place in the mall at the time. Initially, some witnesses reported hearing gunshots, but the loud blasts were later determined to be firecrackers in the parking lot. Police made one arrest and said no one was injured.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the West Oaks Mall announced that it will require everyone under the age of 17 to be accompanied by an adult after 9 p.m., or they will be escorted off the property. The mall also claims a “zero-tolerance” policy for “anyone behaving in a disorderly fashion or breaking the law.”
Reaction to the Facebook announcement was mostly positive and included the following comments:
- Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Bet all your friends think you’re super cool getting them barred from mall property without mom or dad around
- Wow! Really. This is outrageous. And to think I was going to take the little kids there that night.
- Finally!!!! These teens chillin’ there like wannabe thugs and girls looking like they working the streets is getting on my last nerve. I went a few times and the simple fact that there they are huddled outside the entrance it makes me uncomfortable for me and my family to go and watch a movie. It’s about time they were removed from the premises.
- West Oaks just needs to shut down. Families don’t go there. The only stores left are all ghetto. People go for the movies and that’s now about to change I’m sure.
The Sentinel reports, the West Oaks Mall is struggling with more than 25 vacant stores. Shopping malls around the country are going extinct as consumers shy away from the large public spaces. Business Insider reports that more than one out of 10 malls in the United States will fail or be turned into non-retail space within the next decade.
Moonbeam Capital Investments specializes in trying to save struggling malls, and company officials noted that security would be a major challenge when they purchased the property in 2013. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Founder and CEO Steven Maksin expressed concern about the need to remove a rough crowd.
The new curfew may the first step in a long effort to reclaim and save the West Oaks Mall. But Flaherty believes that whatever happens in Ocoee, shopping malls nationwide will continue to face security problems that will drive customers away.
“Whatever the media is reporting, the truth is far worse,” he said. “To most reporters, the bad news doesn’t seem to be this kind of constant violence, but they need to report it.”
New at the mall: Fierce black-mob attacks
-NO AUTHOR-
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 02:41:00 GMT
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