{"id":267424,"date":"2026-05-12T01:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267424\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:38:17","slug":"teen-takeover-turns-annual-orange-county-family-event-chaotic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267424\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen takeover turns annual Orange County family event chaotic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An annual Orange County community event meant to bring families together turned chaotic Saturday after what organizers described as a \u201cteen takeover\u201d promoted on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The incident happened at the Emory Hamilton Sports Complex off East Colonial Drive during P-Day, a yearly gathering organized by Paul Josophat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Video from the event shows multiple fights breaking out as large crowds of teenagers gathered at the park. Organizers and community leaders said the situation quickly became overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cYou see more kids, and then kids start jumping over the fence,\u201d Orange County Commissioner Mike Scott said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when we called the police because there wasn\u2019t anything that we can handle or control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">P-Day organizers said the event has traditionally been centered on bringing local families together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cP-Day has been going on for nine years, like a community event to bring people together \u2026 one day just to bring everybody together. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about,\u201d organizer Paul Josophat said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Another organizer, Tuwanan Ware, said there were multiple fights happening at once.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThere is so many different fights; I really could not even remember how many fights outside of PD that began to happen,\u201d Ware said. \u201cIt just became too overwhelming for the most part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">[BELOW: Check out footage of the event shared by Commissioner Scott]<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to organizers, the original P-Day flyer advertised security and listed the event ending at 7 p.m. Organizers said a separate flyer later circulated online promoting a \u201cteen takeover,\u201d extending the event until 9 p.m. and featuring altered graphics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">News 6 reached out to the TikTok user whom organizers said helped spread the altered flyer but had not received a response as of Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orange County Commissioner Mike Scott said he wants to work with the local TikTok promoter who organizers said helped spread the altered flyer advertising the takeover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe can partner,\u201d Scott said. \u201cYou want to do an event for teens? I\u2019m all for supporting young people \u2026 but there\u2019s a way to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Scott said he believes events geared toward teenagers can be successful if organizers, community leaders and law enforcement work together ahead of time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The incident comes as similar teen takeover events have been reported across Central Florida and in other parts of the country, often organized through social media and drawing large crowds of teenagers to public spaces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office officials told News 6 they understand many teenagers attending the gatherings are simply looking for places to spend time with friends. However, deputies said they are prepared to respond if situations become unsafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">News 6 is still waiting for a response from the Orlando Police Department, which responded to Saturday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Organizers said they plan to continue P-Day next year but with additional security measures in place.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 An annual Orange County community event meant to bring families together turned chaotic Saturday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7071,12840,265,1335,139,141,140,729],"class_list":["post-267424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-children","tag-community-concerns","tag-crime","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267424","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=267424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}