5 charged over fight at King of Prussia Mall

Bob Brooks Image
Friday, April 28, 2017
5 charged over fight at King of Prussia Mall
Five young people, including a 12-year-old, will face charges in connection with a fight at the King of Prussia Mall.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (WPVI) -- Five young people, including a 12-year-old, will face charges in connection with a fight at the King of Prussia Mall.

Cell phone video showed a 15-year-old boy being attacked last month.

Police say the victim and his attackers knew each other.

Three 14 year olds will be charged with misdemeanor simple assault, while a 15-year-old and that 12-year-old will face summary harassment charges.

The mother of the 14-year-old victim spoke to Action News earlier this month.

"I didn't expect it. Like I said, he's been to the mall several times," Christina Pennington said.

The brawl only lasted seconds, but in cell phone video of the incident, the suspects can be seen throwing dozens of punches at the teenager as he tried to protect his head.

"We're all in shock that something like this would happen to him because he's not one that goes and starts trouble or fights," Pennington said.

Pennington says her son was with his girlfriend at the mall celebrating his birthday.

The video shows her son being recorded. They walk a few steps and then chaos erupts.

"For kids to gang up and stalk a child in a mall for we don't even know what reason is just ridiculous, it's not fair and it's scary," Pennington said.

Her son who didn't want to be identified told us he was jumped by seven to eight other kids.

Pennington says she's seen similar videos like this before, but never thought it'd happen to her son.

She wants it to be seen with hopes changes can be made.

"It's very sad the world we live in today. I've taken him to the mall several times and always seen security and thought that my son was safe, but apparently he's not," Pennington said. "My main message to kids would be it's not cool to hurt someone; we should all be peaceful, loving, and kind to make this world a better place."

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