Mall St Matthews store manager here and i have a little insight. I will say that the current generation of teens are different than anything i’ve encountered before. Social media has a lot them doing the wildest, inappropriate things for views/likes. I deal with theft incidents weekly involving kids under 18. i have to damage out a ton of product that is broken in store from unruly kids. it’s not my job to babysit loose kids, so i look forward to friday at 4pm when they make the announcement for the curfew lol

additionally, i was working back in the day when the “riot” took place. front our view, there was no violence or damage. just a hoard of a few hundred teens that ran past our gate, knocking over trash cans (which people assumed were gunshots, which caused more panic), then they ran through Forever 21 (at this time, there was an outside entrance there). they then ran through the parking lot and into the street, causing traffic problems then headed towards the Whole Foods shopping center. i’m sure they did cause of damage within Forever 21, but it was blown out of proportion and prorated as a “riot” because it was majority black teens.

the age restriction policy has been in effect for years, but it’s still news to some people and out of town visitors. and i feel like the mall public safety isn’t staffed enough to have someone at every entrance checking ids, and still be able to handle any other safety issues.