Toledo Police Department shares report on fights at Franklin Park Mall

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Toledo police were on scene at the mall multiple times Monday after fights between teenagers broke out. A police report on one of the incidents gives a better idea of what happened.

While officers received reports of teenagers fighting in the mall, officers said most of the fights were over upon their arrival. However, officers did report catching some juveniles in mid-brawl.

The report states the fight broke out near the movie theater, and a few girls were taken into custody. In addition, a security guard was assaulted while trying to get the other teenagers to leave the area.

“In one of the incidents a security guard had some type of liquid thrown on him during one of the fights,” said TPD Public Information Officer Lt. Paul Davis. “In that one, the juveniles were detained and released to their parents without charges.”

Lt. Davis said the people involved were all minors. TPD is now doing everything it can to keep Franklin Park Mall a safe space for everyone.

“One of the things we’ve done is increase our extra patrols there,” said Lt. Davis. “There are off-duty officers who work and are employed through the mall there.”

Lt. Davis called this an isolated incident, but he also warns that most of the time fights like these do not just come out of nowhere.

“Any time these happen, most likely, the children that are there can see that it’s about to build up to that or they know this person is saying they are going to fight this person before we ever do know about it,” said Lt. Davis.

TPD’s advice for parents and kids: “So I would just encourage them to trust us, trust an adult to go and tell them, ‘Hey this person and this person look like they’re probably going to fight or they are supposed to meet up here and fight.’ That way we can be notified and we can be there before it even happens,” said Lt. Davis.

In response to these incidents, Franklin Park Mall management told 13abc that the safety of shoppers and retailers is the mall’s top priority.

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