{"id":136821,"date":"2026-02-17T23:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136821\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T23:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T23:59:15","slug":"bay-plaza-mall-takeover-in-the-bronx-ends-with-over-a-dozen-teens-in-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136821\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Plaza Mall “takeover” in the Bronx ends with over a dozen teens in custody"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0“takeover” at and around the Bay Plaza Mall in the Bronx<\/a>\u00a0on Presidents Day turned violent and is sparking added security at other area malls.<\/p>\n

Police said at least 18 people were taken into custody, most of them teenagers.<\/p>\n

Teens cause damage at Bronx businesses<\/p>\n

Area businesses said a rowdy bunch of teenagers and young adults came together after a planned “takeover” was advertised across social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Chaotic moments erupted in and around the Bay Plaza Mall on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

“There was, like, over 300 kids,” said the manager of Munchies Deli on Baychester Avenue, who did not want to share his name.<\/p>\n

Video shows an individual throwing what appears to be a plastic crate at one of the deli’s front windows just before 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

He said the situation quickly spiraled out of control and fear set in. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“They tried to, like, break in. We closed door, we tried to avoid that, and we tried to call 911,” the manager said.<\/p>\n

Police said they believe the same large group of teenagers broke a window at a McDonald’s across the street.<\/p>\n

\"Broken<\/p>\n

Police believe a group of teenagers broke a window a McDonald’s in the Bronx on Feb. 16, 2026.<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

“You ever seen a piranha eating food?”<\/p>\n

Many stores at the Bay Plaza Mall reported the teenagers weren’t just being loud, they were aggressive and were also trying to break in. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“You ever seen a piranha eating food? When one attacks, they all come and swarm? That’s exactly what happened,” said Steven Estrella, who handles security at Five Below.<\/p>\n

He said he had to keep the doors locked to prevent damage as the group made repeated attempts to get inside.<\/p>\n

“They tried to get in here at least twice,” Estrella said. “They was making rounds.”<\/p>\n

“All I heard was screaming,” Sherwin-Williams Paints employee Jamelia Duncan said. “To organize and create chaos, that’s just not OK.”<\/p>\n

Mall officials said there was no damage inside the mall itself, and that it remained open during the incident.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

A Presidents’ Day “takeover” at and around the Bay Plaza Mall in the Bronx on Feb. 16, 2026, turned violent, with over a dozen teens taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Chopper 2<\/p>\n

“Takeover” worries across region<\/p>\n

Police said they arrested 17 teenagers and one adult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The motive for the so-called “takeover” is still unclear, but police speculate it was due to the warmer weather and kids having the day off from school.<\/p>\n

Concerns about the incident and possible copycats have spread across the area.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, police and private security were seen monitoring activity at Yonkers’ Cross County Center, and Yonkers Police posted a warning on social media<\/a> saying, in part, “Any attempt at a ‘Take Over’ in any location in our city will be swiftly dealt with.”<\/p>\n

The Westchester County Commissioner of Public Safety also stated<\/a> law enforcement officials are monitoring social media activity to discourage similar incidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0“takeover” at and around the Bay Plaza Mall in the Bronx\u00a0on Presidents Day turned violent and is sparking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-136821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}