Four juveniles were arrested on battery charges Monday night during a gathering of about 300 teenagers in downtown Naperville.
Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said a group of juveniles congregated in different parts of downtown “during the early evening hours,” with the largest group near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Washington Street.
The crowd began to disperse between 8 and 9 p.m. as it started to rain, he said. It’s not known how many of the teens were from Naperville as opposed to other cities.
Four juveniles were arrested for misdemeanor battery as a result of a fight that broke out, Krakow said. He did not know what provoked the incident and he would not provide the ages or genders of those charged.
Multiple citations were also issued, including at least one for trespassing. Krakow said he did not know the specific location of where the incident took place.
A video of the gathering, referred to as a “teen takeover,” has been circulating on social media. In it, a large group can be seen running past the Davanti Enoteca on Chicago Avenue while other teens are seen standing near the intersection of Washington Street and Chicago Avenue.
“It was a little unsettling. It didn’t look safe,” said Naperville City Councilman Josh McBroom, who witnessed some of what happened when he was driving south on Washington Street. There was a Naperville police vehicle parked in front of The George and a crowd of what appeared to be 75 to 100 teens gathered in front of Rosebud at Washington and Chicago.
“You could see kids coming from the other streets and other areas of downtown and it looked rowdy,” McBroom said. “It looked like a rambunctious, loud group of teens. … If one of my teens were to go to downtown Naperville, that’s not an environment that we would approve of. That’s the feeling, it just didn’t look like a safe environment.”
On social media, Naperville police wrote that as spring approaches, more officers will be assigned to the downtown area, special events and other highly populated parts of Naperville “to help prevent disruptive behavior and encourage a safe, welcoming environment for all.
“We take our duty to keep Naperville safe very seriously and will not tolerate unlawful behavior and violations of our state laws and/or municipal ordinances.”
It is not the first time Naperville has experienced a teen takeover.
Last year, a 14-year-old was arrested for allegedly possessing a loaded, semiautomatic pistol during a gathering that involved about 150 people. Before that, there were two other takeovers that took place back to back last year, leading to numerous citations and two arrests. The second of those takeovers centered around a parking lot in which vehicles did burnouts and doughnuts and fireworks were set off as crowds watched.
There were similar incidents in 2023, including one in which police had to be dispatched downtown to break up a group of about 150.
Other cities have also faced issues with teen takeovers. Last weekend, Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood saw a large gathering of teenagers that resulted in three curfew violations and a 16-year-old girl charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and disorderly conduct.
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