COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two 17-year-old boys with fully-loaded handguns were arrested after a fight involving dozens of juveniles on the first floor of Easton Town Center Saturday night, according to the Columbus Division of Police.
The suspects, who police say were the two most aggressively fighting juveniles, were charged with aggravated riot and carrying concealed weapons. They were taken to the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center.
Video sent to 10TV from a viewer showed about a dozen Columbus police cruisers surrounding the outside of the mall. According to police, special duty and Easton security officers were the first to respond to the scene, where they saw approximately 40 to 50 juveniles fighting in the mall.
While interviewing the two suspects, police said officers searched the juveniles and recovered the loaded handguns that were concealed on their persons.
No injuries were reported and police said there were no reports of any shots fired.
On Saturday night, a spokesperson with Easton Town Center acknowledged to 10TV that there was an altercation and it was "taken care of."
In another statement Sunday, Easton Town Center management provided more information regarding Saturday's incident.
The management team said in the statement said that there were only eight individuals involved in the altercation despite police stating there were up to 50 people.
10TV reached out to the management team for further clarification. You can read the full statement below:
"The safety of our customers and those who work at Easton Town Center is our utmost priority. We have a zero tolerance policy for actions that compromise safety.
Last night there were eight individuals involved in an altercation in the station building with additional patrons looking on during the incident.
Our security and Columbus Police were able to contain the fight quickly and take two individuals, both minors, into custody without further incident.
We value our collaboration with the Columbus Police as they are an important component of the safety systems we have in place here."
Columbus police are asking anyone with information about the fight to reach out to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS(8477).