500 teens swarm Aurora shopping center, police declare unlawful assembly

About 500 teenagers converged on a shopping center in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday, Aug. 30, and police declared the crowd an unlawful assembly after smaller groups broke away to run through a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant, vandalizing property and stealing merchandise.

Aurora Police Department officers were called to the Hoffman Heights Shopping Center just after 1:30 p.m., and more than 70 personnel eventually responded, staying in the area for several hours to restore order, according to a department news release issued Monday, Aug. 31. Police said the gathering appears to have been organized through social media around an unpermitted sporting event.

Most of those who came were between the ages of 14 and 17, the department said. What began as a social gathering grew quickly into what police called a serious public safety concern as the crowd swelled and participants pushed into the parking lots and roadways around the stores.

Inside the stores

As officers moved in, smaller groups broke away from the main crowd and entered nearby businesses. Police ordered the assembly to disperse. Many people simply ran through the stores, while others knocked merchandise from the shelves, damaged property and carried off items.

At the King Soopers at 655 Peoria Street, social media videos show teenagers running through the aisles, lifting a display table and pushing merchandise off the shelves. At a nearby Burger King, videos show teens standing on tables inside the dining room. The footage spread widely on TikTok and other platforms over the weekend.

One person suffered minor injuries in a fight that police said was unrelated to the vandalism and theft.

The department did not have an estimate of the value of the damaged or stolen property. Investigators are reviewing video and other evidence to identify those responsible for the criminal activity, and police said they would pursue charges where the evidence supports them.

The scale of the response pulled officers away from other work, the department said. The more than 70 personnel who might otherwise have been available for emergency calls were redirected to the shopping center for several hours, where some in the crowd had spilled into surrounding roadways before the scene was brought back under control.

The event that drew them

Police believe the crowd was drawn by a promotional event for a social media influencer, the basketball tournament the department described as an unpermitted sporting event, and they said they were not aware of it before it happened. Officers learned of the gathering only as it grew, and what the department described as a social event turned into a scene that took a large deployment to contain.

Viral videos from the gathering link to the streamers Quincy Helsel and Khan Asadi, Sentinel Colorado reported. Neither man has been accused of a crime. Helsel held a community event on Aug. 30 to give away free haircuts and school supplies, which his own social media posts suggested had grown into the takeover. That event was staged at George Washington High School in Denver, several miles from Hoffman Heights, and began at 1 p.m., about half an hour before police were called.

The Post Millennial reported that the disorder followed what looked like the second annual Quincy's Community Classic, a community event hosted by the Denver-native basketball creator. In one video, teenagers talking with Helsel said they had broken a table at the Burger King, and other clips posted by the account documented the event and what followed.

The Aurora Police Department did not communicate publicly about the event until Monday, Aug. 31. Spokesperson Katie Fisher said in an email that the department was still gathering enough information to tell the community what had happened, how officers responded and what steps would come next, and that connecting those answers up front mattered.

The grocery chain's account

A King Soopers spokesperson said the company was extremely disappointed by the group's actions and was grateful for the quick police response. The safety of associates and customers is a priority and the company takes the matter seriously, the spokesperson said, adding that it is cooperating fully with the investigation.

The company also thanked the store employees who were on duty, praising their composure and their support of one another and of customers during the disruption.

King Soopers has reported property damage and the theft of some of its merchandise, CBS News Colorado reported.

Video posted to Instagram by an account that filmed the crowd carried a caption saying the group had taken over the King Soopers, the Post Millennial reported, which described dozens of teenagers running through the store and knocking over merchandise. One clip showed a boy carrying a broken table, which the outlet noted might have been the one damaged at the restaurant.

A trend across US cities

Teen takeovers promoted on social media have become a recent national trend, the Associated Press has reported, and have led to shootings, vandalism and theft in some cases. Similar gatherings have surfaced in cities across the country, according to Sentinel Colorado, often set off by online flyers that circulate beforehand.

Communities and police across the country are trying to identify organizers, fine parents of those involved and impose curfews, the AP reported. Its examples vary: Detroit headed off 19 gatherings by monitoring social media, without fines or curfews, Chicago looked for responses that did not rely on police, and Blue Island, Illinois, moved to fine parents. Teenagers told the news agency that the events have grown in response to the closure of youth spaces and to group-size limits imposed by malls and movie theaters.

Hundreds descend on Aurora

By the time officers restored order, the crowd of roughly 500 young people had moved between the King Soopers and the neighboring Burger King at the Hoffman Heights center, off Peoria Street. Most were of high-school age, and the department declared the assembly unlawful before ordering it to disperse and committing more than 70 personnel for several hours.

One worker at the shopping center described the scene as "like a nightmare," saying security had insisted it was handling the crowd but obviously was not.

The chief's message

Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said the day had crossed a line. What began as a gathering of young people became a police matter, he said, because of the behavior and criminal conduct of some of those involved, and he said the department would not accept it.

We will not tolerate groups taking over roadways, disrupting businesses, damaging property or stealing under the belief that being part of a large crowd provides anonymity. It does not.

Chamberlain urged parents and guardians to know where their children are, who they are with and what they are being invited to through social media.

The response also drew officers away from other calls. Police should not have to be pulled from other community emergencies to manage a disturbance that could have been avoided, he said, warning that when hundreds of young people gather and the mood shifts, situations can escalate quickly and become dangerous for bystanders.

Police asked businesses and community members with information to contact Denver Metro Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867, where tips can be anonymous and may qualify for a reward of up to $2,000.

What investigators are doing

Investigators are reviewing footage and other evidence to identify those involved and to determine what criminal charges may apply, the department said. No one had been arrested or issued a summons by the time it released its account on Monday, Aug. 31, and the investigation is ongoing as officers work to match faces in the videos to names.