Police: Teens Leave Church Picnic to Riot in East Liberty
WPXI (Pittsburgh), August 1, 2011
About 100 teenagers swarmed from a McDonald’s to Trader Joe’s to a new Target store during a riot in East Liberty on Sunday, police said.
Police said the trouble started at Mellon Park, where Mount Ararat Baptist Church had just wrapped up its community picnic.
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When reporter Dave Bondy arrived at the scene, police were everywhere. At least a dozen officers were ordering hundreds of teenagers to leave Penn Avenue.
A group of juveniles ran into Target and, according to an employee, they caused a mess in the toy aisle.
“They came in Target, they were throwing chairs, everybody went running,” said witness Shauny Bowe.
“Everybody was just running everywhere,” said Bowe. “They went to McDonald’s, and they told people to get out, cussing and swearing. They were about to taze people. I was scared for my life.”
As members of the church cleaned up the park, they said they are saddened that a day of fun and worship is now associated with disruption and vandalism.
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Police said they made only a few arrests and no one needed to be seen by medics.
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[Editor’s Note: Be sure to view the video in the original article to get an indication of who the rioters were.]
