{"id":138242,"date":"2026-02-19T01:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/138242\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:09:08","slug":"westchester-county-cops-ready-to-pounce-after-teen-mob-takeover-at-nyc-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/138242\/","title":{"rendered":"Westchester County cops ready to pounce after teen mob takeover at NYC mall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Westchester County are on high alert after online threats of massive teen takeovers at suburban shopping meccas \u2014 just days after as many as 200 punks trashed a Bronx mall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

County cops and police in some of Westchester\u2019s largest cities said they\u2019re ready to respond should the mayhem at the Mall at Bay Plaza Monday be repeated in the Big Apple\u2019s northern \u2018burbs, while public schools are on recess.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of a series of social media posts regarding a possible \u2018teen takeover\u2019 here in New Rochelle,\u201d cops in that city said Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cAny activity that jeopardizes residents, businesses or visitors to New Rochelle will be swiftly addressed to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westchester County cops said they\u2019re ready to respond if a teen mob attacks local malls like they did in the Bronx. Westchester County Police Department<\/p>\n

Other police departments also had their guard up, including Yonkers, which is home to the Cross County Shopping Center and Cross County Mall just north of New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long-established, well-practiced procedures in place for situations like this,\u201d Yonkers police said on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cThese protocols have been developed, refined, and exercised over time, and we are fully prepared to respond to any level of unrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yonkers police, the largest department in Westchester, also warned they would respond \u201cwith seriousness, resolve and zero hesitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As many as 200 teens stormed the Mall at Bay Plaza in the Bronx, with 18 of them being charged. X\/@Natanaelny1974<\/p>\n

The Cross County Center is among the largest retail hubs in Yonkers.<\/p>\n

Takeovers are stunts organized online on social media platforms like TikTok, with posters encouraging others to gather in large numbers to storm certain shopping centers at the same time.<\/p>\n

The NYPD said 18 people \u2014 all but one of them under the age of 18 \u2014 were charged following the assault on the Bronx mall by the baby-faced horde on President\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

As many as 200 rowdy teens stormed the mall, flipping displays, hurling furniture and trying to snatch merchandise during the harrowing incident, according to police and witnesses.<\/p>\n

Cops across Westchester said they don\u2019t want to see a similar stunt in the northern suburbs.<\/p>\n

Police in New Rochelle said online chatter threatened a takeover in the suburban city. G.N.Miller\/NYPost<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking teens to take our advice about takeovers: do not participate in this kind of activity,\u201d Westchester County Public Safety Commissioner Terrance Raynor said on Facebook<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get hurt, other people can get hurt and you can be subject to arrest,\u201d Raynor added. \u201cWe are also urging parents to speak with their children and advise them to ignore this dangerous \u2018challenge\u2019 being presented to youths via social media.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Westchester County are on high alert after online threats of massive teen takeovers at suburban shopping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,57,12990,9,24,63,104,34034,4730,129,131,130,58,1628,3048],"class_list":{"0":"post-138242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-rochelle","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-police","15":"tag-shopping-malls","16":"tag-teens","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news","20":"tag-us-news","21":"tag-westchester-county","22":"tag-yonkers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138242","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=138242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}