Responding to incidents involving gatherings of sometimes unruly crowds of juveniles in San Pedro, Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker met this week with representatives from the community, the Los Angeles Police Department, parents, store owners and school officials — week to discuss how best to stop and prevent the activity going forward.
The meeting came after a Feb. 12 incident in which large numbers of teens caused what was described as a significant disturbance at the Vons grocery store at Gaffey and 13th streets in San Pedro, prompting a response by the LAPD.
McOsker, in a Tuesday, Feb. 24, phone interview, described the incident as involving a “large number of kids” who documented the activity on social media.
“They took over parts of the store,” resulting in “vandalism and theft,” he said. “It was very alarming to me and to others.”
The Vons grocery store on the corner of Gaffey St. and W. 13th St. in San Pedro on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
The Vons grocery store on Gaffey Street in San Pedro on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
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The Vons grocery store on the corner of Gaffey St. and W. 13th St. in San Pedro on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Earlier in the month, McOsker added, a fight involving juveniles also broke out during the town’s First Thursday event.
With LAPD, Port Police and community members assisting, he said, that incident — which also attracted a large crowd of young spectators — broke up.
The incident at Vons, 1221 S. Gaffey St., wasn’t the first to occur there, McOsker said, adding that problems there have “ebbed and flowed.”
“I reached out to Vons and to LAUSD school police and LAPD, community members,” he said. “We had a meeting yesterday (Monday, Feb. 23) at Dana Middle School; the principal was gracious enough to host us. This is not a recent issue. The Vons at 13th and Gaffey has had challenges in the past.”
The meeting, the councilmember said, was a chance to discuss how best to address the issue with best practices — and make sure stores and parking areas are safe.
“The meeting was productive, with thoughtful ideas shared by all parties that we are currently exploring internally,” an Albertsons Vons Company spokesperson said in a written statement. “We plan to regroup after spring break with those that attended the meeting.
“Customer and associate safety is our top priority,” the statement added, “and we are committed to ensuring our stores remain safe and welcoming environments for everyone.”
Members of the company’s team were included in the meeting.
San Pedro business owner Mona Sutton, the lead community partner to LAPD and chair of the Community Police Advisory Board, agreed with McOsker that the problem isn’t new.
“It’s been brewing for a while,” she said.
McOsker, for his part, said many of the youth do not respond to authorities who intervene to stop the behavior — though he also didn’t generalize to all young people in San Pedro.
“We have great kids in this community,” McOsker said. “This is not endemic to Dana or the kids in San Pedro.”
But while the recent incident “didn’t have the same feel” as some of the large-scale “smash-and-grab” organized events, McOsker said, it still “felt like unruly mob behavior.” The youth were shoplifting, he said — grabbing things off shelves.
Given that a fight also occurred so recently at First Thursday, near the vacant courthouse property, McOsker said, “there is a dangerous set of behaviors that strike me as something we had to get on top of.”
Police were called to the scene at Vons at around 3:30 p.m. Feb. 12, with scuffles also reportedly spilling into and breaking out in the parking lot. The original police call came is as a “possible ADW (assault with a deadly weapon),” according to LAPD spokesperson Kevin Terzes, but no weapons were found and no arrests were made after police responded. The activity involving a “large group” of juveniles, who were warned of trespassing, then broke up.
It appears no formal report was filed on the incident, Terzes said.
Discussions within the community, McOsker said, will continue. Additional security will be provided at the next First Thursday in March, he said.
“We’ve had two public safety meetings in a row,” he said, “and there will be more. It’s the nature of youth being influenced by some of their peers.”
Rules need to be established and communicated, McOsker said.
“Vons managers attempted to calm the situation down,” said Sutton, who saw the Feb. 12 incident come up on an email alert, and went to the store and called McOsker. Store personnel tried to “get the kids out of the store” but when that didn’t work, Sutton said, the situation escalated.