June 14th, 2024

Incident

Today there was an incident between 3pm and 4 pm at the mall which involved 3 middle school aged boys (three of the four who had been in previously and had been asked to wait for the bus outside). Today they chose to loiter on the front doorstep, leaning against the door and blocking the main customer entrance. Weather was fair and upper 70s so there was no weather related reason for them to be there.

Jason noticed the boys and when he stepped outside and told them they couldn't stand there blocking the doorway they became verbally abusive: one of the boys, (the one in the light gray hoodie, see attached), then kicked Jason and struck him in the face, causing his glasses to fall off, chipping a lens. Jason came inside and then two of the three followed him inside, again hurling verbal abuse and making gang sign gestures. Fortunately, David was up front at the time and saw everything that was happening. I was in the rear of the shop greeting a customer but quickly made my way to the front when I heard the commotion.

At this point the boys went back outside and for everyone's safety I locked the front doors. The West St Paul police were immediately called and I reported that one of our workers had been assaulted by the youth. The boys were still outside the front windows jeering and taunting. Within 5 minutes they began walking east along the Annapolis side and as soon as they hear the siren they broke into a run, going along the parking lot retaining wall and disappearing behind the dentist building.

A uniformed police officer arrived on scene and took a statement from Jason. He also photographed Jason's face and asked whether Jason would like to press charges. Jason declined, mainly because he said he was not injured and he was very concerned the boys might come back at some point and threaten the two of you or possibly vandalize the building.

After close of business, around 5:30, I got a call from Officer Rock or Rauch (he may have been a sergeant, I can't recall) with WSP Police who told me all three youth had been apprehended and were being held, and would Jason please call police back as soon as possible. At this point I requested a no trespass order for the three youth, and the officer assured me police would do that. I relayed the message immediately and Jason got in touch with police.

Apparently these three youth were previously known to police and have been involved in robberies and criminal complaints at other businesses. According what Jason said police told him, these boys do not live in our area and they were uncertain why the boys were in the neighborhood. They’d again asked Jason if he would press charges and again Jason declined for the reasons above.

I’m sorry this is so lengthy, and not to alarm you but I figured you’d want to be informed about this. I will show the photos to our other working dealers so they can keep eyes open and be aware. If there is anything else I can do please let me know.

Carl

Thanks for your professional handling of this situation. Please let Jason know we hope he will press charges and that he is all right. These boys should not be able to get away with intimidating people. So sorry this happened. Thanks for getting the photos. It helps to know who we're dealing with

What is wrong with these kids today?

Disrespectful

Angry at the world

I have no clue.

The next time I'll press charges against them.

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West St Paul Antiques

West St Paul Antiques

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