{"id":266550,"date":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266550\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","slug":"teen-takeover-ends-with-22-arrests-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266550\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen \u2018Takeover\u2019 Ends With 22 Arrests, Police Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TAMPA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Tampa Police say 22 people between the ages of 12 and 21 were arrested Friday night following what officers described as a teen \u201ctakeover\u201d near Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to Tampa Police, officers responded May 8 with patrol units, bike officers and Air service personnel after the crowd caused what the department described as \u201csignificant disruptions\u201d downtown. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Police say charges connected to the arrests included affray, possession of narcotics, resisting without violence and unlawful possession of a weapon. Investigators say officers also seized two firearms and one vehicle tied to the incident. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Teen \u2018Takeover\u2019 Ends With 22 Arrests, Police Say\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MNDUSQOQABF4HMKUMGF467WZQY.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"652\" \/>Teen \u2018Takeover\u2019 Ends With 22 Arrests, Police Say(Tampa Police Department)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Several of those arrested were juveniles, according to police. The youngest person arrested was 12 years old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThis type of reckless and criminal behavior will not be tolerated in our city,\u201d Tampa Police Cief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. \u201cWhat began as a large gathering quickly escalated into disorder and activity that placed others at risk.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Police say similar large gatherings involving teens have become a growing concern in communities across the country heading into the summer months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The department also pointed to youth programs, including PAL\u2019s Midnight Basketball and Stay and Play, which offer extended evening hours and activities at select city parks during the summer.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Tampa Police say 22 people between the ages of 12 and 21 were arrested&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[689,690,691,692,693,694,695,696,697,698,699,700,220,187,701,265,702,703,704,705,706,707,708,709,710,711,712,713,714,715,115,716,717,718,719,132,720,721,722,723,724,504,725,726,727,202,204,203,199,201,200,728,729,730,731,732],"class_list":["post-266550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-abstract","tag-accident","tag-alarm","tag-arrest","tag-auto","tag-background","tag-black","tag-blue","tag-blur","tag-blurred","tag-blurry","tag-bokeh","tag-car","tag-city","tag-cop","tag-crime","tag-danger","tag-dark","tag-emergency","tag-enforcement","tag-engagement","tag-flash","tag-flasher","tag-flashing","tag-force","tag-jam","tag-law","tag-light","tag-lighting","tag-lights","tag-news","tag-night","tag-occupation","tag-order","tag-patrol","tag-police","tag-police-car","tag-protection","tag-red","tag-rescue","tag-road","tag-safety","tag-scene","tag-service","tag-siren","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-street","tag-traffic","tag-urban","tag-urgency","tag-vehicle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}