Police disperse teenagers at Indianapolis mall

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indianapolis police will increase their presence at a shopping mall following the latest in a series of violent disturbances involving teenagers, a police spokesman said Sunday.

The incident Saturday night at the Castleton Square Mall on the city's far northeast side led the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to mobilize its Emergency Response Group to help disperse the crowd, which local media estimated at 200 people.

Police "will have an increased presence at the mall and surrounding area (Sunday) night and coming days," Officer Christopher Wilburn said.

Officers arriving on the scene Saturday reported hearing a gunshot, but no injuries were reported, he said.

"It is embarrassing. It is disappointing because there are places for children and teenagers to burn off energy. I think this was calculated by a group of people, and it is unacceptable. It is an embarrassment for the parents and an embarrassment for them. That is what is troubling for me," Wilburn said.

Lisa Stout of Lebanon told The Indianapolis Star that she took her three daughters, ages 10 to 17, to the mall Saturday afternoon to spend some money they received for Christmas. Stout had noticed the mall was uncommonly crowded when she and her daughters heard screaming.

"We heard all this noise and these people were stampeding at the end of the mall," she said. "There's a bunch of people, screaming and running. We had no idea what was going on."

WRTV reported that the mall has been the scene of at least two other fights since March 2013 that resulted in teenagers being arrested.

A receptionist said the mall would have no comment before Monday.