On May 20, the Village of Tinley Park was forced to cancel a fair after 400 teenagers stormed the area as part of a flash mob.
One police officer was hurt in the incident and five teenagers were arrested for fighting.
Tinley Park Police have not released the names of the arrested teens yet.
“The final day of the Armed Forces Weekend Carnival that was slated to take place from 1 to 8 p.m. today at the 80th Avenue train station has been cancelled due to safety concerns stemming from a flash mob incident at Saturday’s event,” Village of Tinley Park Public Safety said in a Sunday Facebook post.
“Police said a group of about 400 teenagers who were responding to a call on social media to form a flash mob gathered at the carnival Saturday evening and began running through the parking lot and fighting with each other in an attempt to cause chaos and disrupt the event.
“A police officer was injured attempting to break up a fight and was treated and released from South Suburban Hospital later that evening. Police released most of the teenagers back into the custody of their parents, but five were issued citations for fighting in public. No shots were fired during the incident.
“Police made the decision to cancel today’s carnival after they discovered that another flash mob was being planned on social media for Sunday’s event.”
The group of teenagers reportedly ran through the lot instigating fights with fairgoers, a Monday NBC 5 Chicago report said. Fifty police officers were called in from Tinley Park and surrounding communities to deal with the mob violence.
"We found something on social media that asked people to do the same thing as it did last night, and we're not going to put the residents at risk," Pat Carr, Tinley Park Village manager, told NBC 5. "We do scour through social media but there are so many social media sites out there and we were prepared for something like that to happen, but unfortunately you don't get everything. We will continue to have these festivals and deal with these individuals if they come to our town."
The incident began at 8 p.m. Saturday night and lasted for a couple of hours. Police decided to cancel the Sunday fair after social medial posts were found urging another flash mob for that event, a Tinley Park Patch report said.
Video of the incident was taken by fairgoers and is readily available on social media.
"The kids were just acting a fool," Michael Salerno of Windy City Amusements told Fox 32 Chicago on Sunday. "It’s a shame. Everyone was enjoying themselves."
The flash mob occurred just weeks after similar incidents in downtown Chicago, an April McHenry Times report said.
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