Fight breaks out at The Pike after plans for meet-up go viral
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According to the Long Beach Police Department, a fight between a woman and a young girl broke out around 5:40 p.m. at Bay Street and Aquarium Way.
Video obtained by Eyewitness News showed hundreds of teens and young adults running around the outdoor mall, with the fight occurring as they moved around. You can see the woman and the girl lunging at each other, repeatedly throwing punches. One of them was seen bleeding.
Video captures massive disturbance involving teens at The Pike Outlets in Long Beach
Mario Carabez captured the fight on his phone. He was at The Pike with his daughter.
"Everyone ran and then within the next couple of, maybe 10 minutes, another fight broke down another couple feet from that," he said.
Police said officers quickly stopped the fight and arrested both the woman and the girl. It's unclear what sparked the altercation, and their identities and ages were not immediately released.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Long Beach Police Department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying it was aware of a planned gathering. The "meet-up plan" was reportedly posted on social media.
"We have increased our presence in the area. Criminal activity will not be tolerated."
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Witnesses told ABC7 they knew some sort of "meet-up" was going to happen based on the social media posts. One young boy said the post said to come to The Pike and "fight, go stupid, get kicked out until it closes."
"They just always do that. I don't know why, but I just be enjoying it because it's fun," he said. "They want to go viral. They do that to go viral and stuff."
Meanwhile, Kyler Kirk, who was at The Pike on a date with his girlfriend, arrived at the mall to find it completely shut down.
"When I was younger, there was no such thing as going viral trying to fight," he said. "It doesn't make sense, logically, to do stuff like that. It pretty stupid to me."
Due to the size of the crowd, multiple patrol cruisers and dozens of officers were on the property to safely clear the area. Officers warned people if anyone did not leave the property, they would face trespassing charges.
Police said it would be conducting increased patrols throughout the evening.
Boy shot when gunfire erupts
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Police said minutes later, around 6:26 p.m., officers responded to the area near East 1st Street and The Promenade following a report of a shooting.
Officers found a boy, whose age was not immediately disclosed, with a gunshot wound to his lower body. He was rushed to the hospital where he's reportedly in stable condition.
There was no immediate information on a suspect or suspects. Investigators did find a shell casing at the scene that has since been booked as evidence.
No other injuries were reported. Both incidents remain under investigation and it's unclear if they are both connected.