BOARDMAN, Ohio April 16, 2026 A new social media trend caused some chaos in the Mahoning Valley this weekend. “Teen Takeover” refers to teens gathering in large groups at businesses. The intention is not always to cause trouble, but trouble can be the result.
“Teen Takeovers” are trending nationwide, causing chaos in cities like Detroit, Jacksonville and Chicago. They seem to originate via social media, where word of the meetups spreads with the click of a button, the audience growing with each share or repost.
“Apparently, it’s become a social media challenge for teens to do this,” said Boardman Police Department Sgt. Glenn Patton. “It’s happened in New York, Florida, Wisconsin — a variety of different states — where these flyers are posted, kids are encouraged to show up, and in some cases, start problems like fights or damage to the different businesses.”
It was one of these takeovers that caused a massive police presence in Boardman Saturday night in the area of Youngstown Skate and surrounding businesses, like Walmart. Two Boardman officers were working a detail at Youngstown Skate when they noticed the crowd starting to thicken and heard reference to the “Teen Takeover” minutes before a fight broke out.
Officers discovered a social media post, inviting area teens to Youngstown Skate, with the plan of gathering at the Raising Cane’s location on Boardman-Poland Road after the fact. The event was NOT planned by either business. When the fight broke out, the teens scattered.
“The officers stepped in quickly to break up the original fight and to try and get the kids moving as quickly as possible,” Sgt. Patton said.
Despite some social media chatter, there was no gunfire. There was, however, pepper spray deployed by the two officers originally on scene.
“When the two officers on scene are confronted with a large group that’s actively engaged in fighting, that was the first thing they did to try and stop the fight — to make sure none of the bystanders were injured and nobody involved in the fight was hurt,” Sgt. Patton said.
He said ultimately, there were no serious injuries as a result of the fight. Between the use of pepper spray and the fight, those uninvolved ran. Police then worked with some of the teens to help get them safely home and ensure there were no problems at surrounding businesses.
“The officers called for assistance from other agencies as the teens began to run into different parking lots and other businesses in the area,” Patton said, explaining the various departments that people witnessed on the scene.
While Patton said they do not believe fights were the intention of the Boardman gathering based on the flyer, it was still the result of a large group of teens in a singular space. There was a fairly large age range of those attending, from 12 to 17 years old, according to Patton.
“A lot of times parents will bring them to the skate rink, drop them off — which is totally normal — and then they get picked up later on in the evening. Or they’re with older siblings to enjoy the evening. They’re usually not there to cause problems,” Sgt. Patton said.
There were no arrests on the scene this weekend, but Patton says they are continuing to investigate participants in the fight and whether they showed up at Youngstown Skate to intentionally cause trouble.
This is not the only issue the area has seen with teens causing problems with area businesses. It was prevalent last year as well, causing some businesses to institute age restrictions or juvenile escort policies.
“We have had concerns with businesses like Target, who welcome teenage shoppers to their business but do not welcome teenagers that cause problems. We have addressed that, Target’s addressed that, which so far has curtailed some of the issues we had there,” Patton said.
Patton says for now, they do not plan on amending the curfew in the township but will place extra patrols in places where any trouble could happen, in addition to monitoring social media.
“We would encourage teens to go to businesses like Youngstown Skate, who welcome them, but we would also ask them to be respectful and not engage in that kind of behavior,” Sgt. Patton said. “Do not engage in fighting behavior at these businesses. If you think that that’s going to happen, remove yourself from the situation, because it’s only going to get worse.”
For parents, Patton said know where your kids are, and don’t be afraid to go with them.
“Enjoy the experience of the businesses with them, don’t just let them off with a group and expect that they’re always going to behave,” Sgt. Patton said.