Police to increase presence at Penn’s Landing after large teenage gathering

Philadelphia police say they will have an increased presence at Penn’s Landing Tuesday after dispersing a large crowd of teens from the area on Memorial Day.

Authorities said they were alerted to the crowd at about 7 p.m. Monday, and requested additional resources to help break up the gathering. Police reported several fights, as well as three vehicles that were vandalized after teenagers jumped on their windshields.

While dealing with the crowd at Penn’s Landing, police received reports of gunshots fired nearby on the 100 block of South Front Street just after 8:15 p.m. Responding officers did not find any victims, but located two fired cartridge casings, police said.

Around 11 p.m., the remaining crowd at Penn’s Landing dispersed without incident.

Authorities will “continue to monitor the area for the foreseeable future” and work with local partners to deploy resources there, Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Tanya Little said. Large crowds are not expected at Penn’s Landing on Tuesday night.

The incident comes following a gathering of hundreds of teenagers at the Fashion District. At the time, police officials offered different versions of the disorder, with some alleging that the teens threw rocks and stomped on cruisers. Other police reports did not mention that kind of activity.

Four teens were issued citations as a result of that fracas, and the Fashion District instituted an age restriction that keeps minors out of the mall after 2 p.m. if they don’t have a parent or supervising adult with them.

In Philadelphia, teenagers have increasingly limited options for places to gather with friends, The Inquirer previously reported. Compared to other similarly sized cities, Philadelphia does not significantly invest in public spaces, the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit, found in a recent study.

“Are there opportunities for young people to come together and engage with things that they wanna engage in?” Marcía Hopkins, director of youth advocacy at the Juvenile Law Center said last month. “I would say [in] our city, there’s not that many spaces for [that].”