Inside the teen takeovers threatening to explode this summer as cities remain on edge: 'Very worried'
A wave of social media-fueled teen takeovers in cities from Chicago to Washington, D.C., is putting officials on alert for a potentially volatile summer as experts warn the large youth...
By Fox News · Fox News
A wave of social media-fueled teen takeovers in cities from Chicago to Washington, D.C., is putting officials on alert for a potentially volatile summer as experts warn the large youth gatherings could strain police, fuel violence and threaten recent public-safety gains. "It usually increases during the summer," Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital of crime trends. "I think anyone who has looked at crime data and some kind of criminological studies recognized that that will increase and I think that is something that the city should be very worried about." The warning comes after a wave of spring incidents across the country, where large teen crowds organized or amplified online have led to arrests, fights, weapons charges and emergency curfew debates. "So many of these incidents are fueled by two things: social media and boredom. That’s it," Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital. GOP SENATOR TARGETS DC 'YOUTH OFFENDER' LAW AS TRUMP DEMANDS TOUGHER SENTENCES FOR VIOLENT TEENS "There is potential for this to escalate, and to really damage some really good progress that we’ve made in cutting back on that post-COVID violent crime spike," Swearer added. Violent crime surged nationally during the pandemic, with homicides rising sharply in 2020 as cities were also rocked by protests and riots following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Social media has contributed to "under-the-radar" meetups, Swearer said, explaining that many teens are working to boost their "clout" online with outrageous videos. "There are massive accounts that are just dedicated to showing the chaos and the carnage and the street takeover events, where it’s almost like a social media clout thing," she said. A Chicago teen takeover erupted Wednesday night when a car rammed a police cruiser as teen mobs cheered and filmed. In a similar incident last week, 22 people were arreste…