St. Matthews Mayor: Chaos at mall likely caused by boredom, social media

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The mayor of St. Matthews is speaking out after a chaotic holiday weekend at Mall St. Matthews.

Mayor Rick Tonini says social media and boredom are to blame.

The mall closed early Saturday evening after police say as many as 2,000 juveniles showed up, disturbing shoppers. Law enforcement from all over the area responded.

Mayor Tonini says it's likely the teens didn't have anything better to do that night, and the mall became the hangout spot. He says he doesn't believe the kids meant any harm and supports police for not making any arrests.

"When you were 14, 15, or 16 years of age and had nothing to do on a Saturday, you'd look for something to do," said Mayor Tonini. "I don’t think anyone left their home with the idea that they were going to do any harm. The only real harm that was done was stores had to close early."

Authorities say several fights, reports of shots fired and hundreds of kids running through the mall and stores caused the mayhem.

St. Matthews Police initially referred to the incident as a riot, but Mayor Tonini says that wasn't the case.

"It was not a riot. There were no rocks thrown or cars overturned or looting. It was not a riot it was just a large disturbance," Mayor Tonini explained. "I don't want to paint with a broad brush and paint all these kids as being bad. There may have been a few that were rowdy and noisy. The number of kids was the real problem here."

"Just think about the Derby. When you have a lot of people there it takes a lot of police to keep it under control," said Mayor Tonini.

There was only one report of a minor injury. There were no arrests.

"What are we going to arrest them for -- being noisy? There were some kids who were mouthy and a little bit belligerent towards the police," Tonini said. "I don't think, in this case arrests would have done anything but incite more panic."

"I'm sure not afraid of going there (MSM) and I hope no one else is."

Mayor Tonini, local law enforcement and other city leaders met with Mall St. Matthews management Monday. Officials will speak publicly Wednesday morning on how this incident will be addressed. The announced is expected to include policy changes by the mall.