7 teens arrested after crowd goes wild at NJ mall — cops blame parents, social media

🚨A social media post drew teens to the Menlo Park Mall on Saturday night

🚨Video shows a large number of teens running around the mall

🚨7 juveniles were arrested, none were from Edison

EDISON — Seven juveniles were arrested Saturday night after 300 teens gathered at a Central Jersey mall.

The teens showed up around 8 p.m. at the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, according to Mayor Sam Joshi. Video of the event shows large groups of teens standing around the mall while others ran screaming through the food court. Stores dropped their gates as the crowd size grew and bad behavior increased.

Video shows security in one store escorting customers out a back exit away from the main area.

One of the teens faces charges of assaulting a police officer while others face disorderly conduct charges, according to Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan. No weapons were found by police and no one was injured.

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'The Menlo Park Linkup'

The gathering appears to be the result of posts on TikTok promoting the "Menlo Park Linkup" for Saturday, which received over 150,000 views, according to the New York Post. Joshi said that none of the teens who were arrested were from Edison.

The incident is the latest weekend event in New Jersey to be disrupted by rowdy teens. A church carnival was canceled in Bellmawr on May 12, five were arrested at the Hamilton Mall on May 4, and Wildwood police warned about a pop-up party promoted on social media for last Saturday.  Bryan places the blame on social media and a lack of parenting.

"What's up with the parents? I always knew what my kids were doing. I would never condone them going to the mall and creating havoc and chaos," Bryan said. "That's an issue. That's a problem that we have now."

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