‘It was chaos’: Clay County deputies close Orange Park Mall due to teens causing disturbances

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office closed the Orange Park Mall Saturday evening due to “juvenile disturbances.”

As of 8 p.m., CCSO said both the AMC Theater and the Orange Park Mall were closed. Deputies were also advising parents and guardians to pick up their unaccompanied children.

In a tweet, the CCSO said a “large group of juveniles” were causing disturbances inside the AMC Theater. Deputies temporarily closed the mall until they cleared out the teens from the building and the parking lot.

Some of the teens headed to the plaza across the street from the mall, and deputies could be heard saying “leave or you will go to jail.” Deputies had the plaza cleared shortly before 9 p.m.

All areas were cleared by 9:30 p.m.

Around 10:30 p.m., CCSO tweeted an update that stated the theater was reopened for adults, and teens under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The deputies did not specify what the teenagers were doing to cause the disturbance, but they did confirm there was no reported shooting at the mall or the theater.

News4JAX spoke to a woman who was inside the theater before the commotion outside took place.

“It was about an hour still at the movie, and all of a sudden, the side door opened and people start screaming. We couldn’t understand what they were screaming. Next thing you know, I would say over two-thirds of the theater started screaming, throwing popcorn and stuff everywhere, and running out of the theater on the side door and main doors. It was chaos, and then it was nerve-wracking because we stayed to watch the rest of the movie,” the woman said.

The woman also said she walked outside and saw about 20-25 law enforcement officers and 100-200 people standing outside in the parking lot.

It’s unclear if there were any injuries or arrests.

News4JAX has reached out to the sheriff’s office to learn more information about Saturday night’s events.