A Boy Was Jumped and Robbed by a Group of Kids at Bethesda Mall tonight 4/7

[Anonymous]

8 pages and nothing about the actual crime? I would like to know if it happened inside the mall? The photos from the tweet looked like the outside of the mall or parking garage but it wasn’t clear if that was where the crime occurred. Any any idea what time of day it occurred?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compared to Wheaton Mall, it's been a lot better but it's spiked up lately.

Both Montgomery Mall and Pike and Rose have been attracting kids from east county to hang out on weekends. Montgomery Mall basically has the only movie theatre left downcounty making it a big draw for kids from all over. I know people in Silver Spring whose kids spend a lot of time hanging out in Bethesda. So this doesn’t surprise me.

Huh? Silver spring has the Majestic which is enormous, not to mention AFI Silver. Absolutely no reason for kids to travel across the county for a movie theater

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a reason kids feel it's okay to randomly, violently attack strangers at malls, metro stops, etc. There's a reason. It's what they are being taught at home, on internet, on TV, in schools. What are they being taught? Religion is a joke to be mocked and name called, anger and violence is glorified in some contexts, big one here - external locus of control over their lives, etc. Wake up people. Our society is becoming like a violent criminal training camp. This will only get worse until we teach better.

Actually it’s due to poverty & lack of treatment for mental health issues.

Poverty? For what reason can I walk around safely in many other countries where people are dirt poor compared to our poor, and not be concerned for my safety?

Because they have housing, food and healthcare.

Are you kidding right now? There are many many countries around the world where social supports are worse than the US and poverty is worse but you don’t have the crime you have in US cities. Crime is about culture not just poverty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich kids think this stuff is funny, my money is on Mater Dei graduates.

Bethesda is full of grifters, drug addicts, pan handlers, the homeless and people bused in from other areas to fill low income housing. We went to the McDonald's on the pike recently and I was shocked by the homeless people in front of the 7-11 and the drug addicts spitting over and over in front of the McD's door while waiting to ask for food of each person who went in or out. It was like stopping to pick up food on NY Ave before heading to the beach. Actually that's probably better now.

I have friends that graduated from W schools who are addicts.

Homeless and drug addicts are not new and blaming them on “housing” policy is laughable.

Stop giving your kids credit cards and no limits on spending . Stop going yo Europe thinking your teens are mature enough to be home alone. Stop spending your summer at the cape / Bethany and think it’s okay to leave your teens.

I have one friend who is a police officer and another who is very high up in MCPS central office. Both have said the amount of drugs and crime in and around the W schools is astounding and everyone is oblivious to it. The amount of vaping is very high at those schools as well. They have both said parents are clueless as to the extent of the drinking, drugs, theft, bullying, etc.

The fact that everyone around these kids is clueless is a good indication those are not the people this thread is about. Keep me oblivious and I don't care what you do -- vape, do drugs, whatever. But don't do it in front of the McDonalds or jump someone at the mall. Big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery Mall is full of packs of teens of all races and income levels, many times mixed within the same groups. They get high together, hang out on the furniture in Macy’s and other stores for hours, steal stuff, and generally act rowdy and obnoxious. Just ask any salesperson and they’ll give you an earful about hating to work after school or on weekends and wondering where the hell the parents are. A lot walk over from WJ or come from other schools. Teen behavior was always kind of bad but it’s getting really bad now.

This is how I used to behave at the Montgomery Mall as a teen. We smoked in the Sears bathroom, shoplifted, sat on the mattresses and couches. But we never jumped anyone or openly disrespected others.

[Anonymous]

Knife fights are normal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a reason kids feel it's okay to randomly, violently attack strangers at malls, metro stops, etc. There's a reason. It's what they are being taught at home, on internet, on TV, in schools. What are they being taught? Religion is a joke to be mocked and name called, anger and violence is glorified in some contexts, big one here - external locus of control over their lives, etc. Wake up people. Our society is becoming like a violent criminal training camp. This will only get worse until we teach better.

Actually it’s due to poverty & lack of treatment for mental health issues.

Poverty? For what reason can I walk around safely in many other countries where people are dirt poor compared to our poor, and not be concerned for my safety?

Because they have housing, food and healthcare.

Are you kidding right now? There are many many countries around the world where social supports are worse than the US and poverty is worse but you don’t have the crime you have in US cities. Crime is about culture not just poverty

Where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 pages and nothing about the actual crime? I would like to know if it happened inside the mall? The photos from the tweet looked like the outside of the mall or parking garage but it wasn’t clear if that was where the crime occurred. Any any idea what time of day it occurred?

Or if it actually occurred. One twitter account run by an anonymous freelance journalist reported it. Nothing from any official source or more established local news source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a reason kids feel it's okay to randomly, violently attack strangers at malls, metro stops, etc. There's a reason. It's what they are being taught at home, on internet, on TV, in schools. What are they being taught? Religion is a joke to be mocked and name called, anger and violence is glorified in some contexts, big one here - external locus of control over their lives, etc. Wake up people. Our society is becoming like a violent criminal training camp. This will only get worse until we teach better.

Actually it’s due to poverty & lack of treatment for mental health issues.

Poverty? For what reason can I walk around safely in many other countries where people are dirt poor compared to our poor, and not be concerned for my safety?

Because they have housing, food and healthcare.

Are you kidding right now? There are many many countries around the world where social supports are worse than the US and poverty is worse but you don’t have the crime you have in US cities. Crime is about culture not just poverty

This. The prevailing idea that violent crime against others is just a consequence of being poor is both untrue and an insult to the overwhelming majority of poor people who are hard working and law abiding. They are also most likely to be victims of crime, the soft on crime approach doubly victimizes them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 pages and nothing about the actual crime? I would like to know if it happened inside the mall? The photos from the tweet looked like the outside of the mall or parking garage but it wasn’t clear if that was where the crime occurred. Any any idea what time of day it occurred?

Or if it actually occurred. One twitter account run by an anonymous freelance journalist reported it. Nothing from any official source or more established local news source.

You honestly think one kid getting jumped at the mall will make the 11 o'clock news these days with all of the other crime going on? Thank goodness the kid was not seriously hurt. That may have made the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a reason kids feel it's okay to randomly, violently attack strangers at malls, metro stops, etc. There's a reason. It's what they are being taught at home, on internet, on TV, in schools. What are they being taught? Religion is a joke to be mocked and name called, anger and violence is glorified in some contexts, big one here - external locus of control over their lives, etc. Wake up people. Our society is becoming like a violent criminal training camp. This will only get worse until we teach better.

Actually it’s due to poverty & lack of treatment for mental health issues.

Poverty? For what reason can I walk around safely in many other countries where people are dirt poor compared to our poor, and not be concerned for my safety?

Because they have housing, food and healthcare.

Are you kidding right now? There are many many countries around the world where social supports are worse than the US and poverty is worse but you don’t have the crime you have in US cities. Crime is about culture not just poverty

This. The prevailing idea that violent crime against others is just a consequence of being poor is both untrue and an insult to the overwhelming majority of poor people who are hard working and law abiding. They are also most likely to be victims of crime, the soft on crime approach doubly victimizes them.

I wonder if the design of the U.S. social support system is the root cause. In those countries without support systems, people often have to expend a lot of time and energy to procure enough resources for food, lodging, etc. without anything to fall back on. However, if you meet certain criteria in the U.S., all of those basic needs are taken care of for you. And the criteria can be gamed. Therefore, you now have a lot of people with a lot of time on their hands, and no constructive outlet for that time because they are disadvantaged to begin with. The group of kids that jumped the boy likely had their own phones, shoes, etc. There was no basic need to jump someone for a better phone (iphones are apple ID locked now...), more expensive shoes, etc. unless it was for fun or greed (assuming they didn't know each other from a personal beef). In a lot of the countries without support systems, the parents also make the children work with them and basically supervise/consume their time too. Yes child labor is exceedingly bad, and that kind of system just perpetuates the poverty down the generation, but it is one explanation of why crime in lower in those countries because what you do with time is opportunity cost. That's not to say there shouldn't be a support system of some sort, but that support system also needs to consume the recipients' time.

And since this example is specifically kids, the lack of consequences in the juvenile criminal justice system may also play a large role. Many police departments want nothing to do with children because of the bad optics it brings. That's why they typically just release to parents and more often than not the child reoffends because the majority of parents in that situation didn't care in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 pages and nothing about the actual crime? I would like to know if it happened inside the mall? The photos from the tweet looked like the outside of the mall or parking garage but it wasn’t clear if that was where the crime occurred. Any any idea what time of day it occurred?

Or if it actually occurred. One twitter account run by an anonymous freelance journalist reported it. Nothing from any official source or more established local news source.

You honestly think one kid getting jumped at the mall will make the 11 o'clock news these days with all of the other crime going on? Thank goodness the kid was not seriously hurt. That may have made the news.

I think there would be a police report that would've been picked up by at least one of the other several local social media accounts (MoCo Show, Bethesda Beat, etc.).

[Anonymous]

A theft/larceny (theft of personal property) dispatch was made to Montgomery Mall on 4/7. You can look it up, it is publicly available data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery Mall is full of packs of teens of all races and income levels, many times mixed within the same groups. They get high together, hang out on the furniture in Macy’s and other stores for hours, steal stuff, and generally act rowdy and obnoxious. Just ask any salesperson and they’ll give you an earful about hating to work after school or on weekends and wondering where the hell the parents are. A lot walk over from WJ or come from other schools. Teen behavior was always kind of bad but it’s getting really bad now.

Montgomery Mall is the place where a lot of teenagers hang out on the weekends. Just go there on a Friday night and you'll see. One of my daughter's classmates, is literally there every Friday night and then back again all day on Saturday. She hangs out with a bunch of kids who go to different schools (Tilden, Rocky Hill, etc.). Gone are the days when kids only hang out with kids from their own school. Anyway, what do you think these kids are doing all weekend long at a mall without their parents?

Teens have always been somewhat rowdy in groups at the mall. I was kind of like that but more like showing off in front of boys. The difference is that now they don’t care how obnoxious they are in front of adults and even authority figures like security guards. And the groups are larger so maybe they figure there’s safety in numbers, and they know there won’t be any consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Knife fights are normal

All part of life in the big city, you Pearl-clutching snowflake. Anyone who complains about crime in formerly safe areas within a 15 mile radius or downtown has unreasonable expectations about safety.