JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office cleared hundreds of juveniles from the area around the Orange Park Mall on Saturday after reports of disruptions inside the shopping center.
Deputies said the teens were causing disturbances and were asked to leave the area. Parents were called to pick up their children, and the group was moved to the parking lot near the At Home store while they waited for rides. The sheriff’s office confirmed no arrests were made and no fights were reported, despite some bystanders claiming otherwise.
The incident is the latest in a string of similar disturbances at the mall.
This latest incident adds to a troubling pattern at the mall.
In 2021, deputies responded to fights during the mall carnival. In 2023, the mall was cleared again following another juvenile disturbance. And just last year, deputies investigated multiple fights and a nearby shooting in the same area.
Now, many in the community are asking: what can be done to give teens better options and keep them busy, safe, and out of trouble — especially during the summer months?
“This is one of my biggest concerns—it’s the reason we started the Taylor Belle Foundation‚” said Benjamin Ballard, who works with teens through after-school and summer programs. “That’s so important, to have them engage in activities. So with our team international travel, that’s important. Also having them do a workforce development training where they can develop skills to go on jobs, to have a job throughout the summer. So we have a lot of teens that do this. They volunteer, but we want them working so they can stay focused.”
Ballard feels Jacksonville and Clay County need more safe indoor spaces.
“I want to work with the City of Jacksonville, with the Taylor Belle Foundation to put more programs in our communities,” Ballard explained. “We want to have indoor facilities for them. We want to have enough activities indoors for our students, as well as bowling alleys on the north side or the west side. We want to have more of the skating rinks on the north side on the west side, right? We want to have activities, we don’t have what we would consider a theme park or Adventure Landing, just things for kids to do on these two sides of town, and this is the most concern in those ZIP codes,” he said.
Janiyah Maldonado, 15, said many teens often feel there’s simply not enough to do.
“If I wasn’t volunteering, I’d just be at home on my phone all day,” she said.
Ballard and other youth advocates said it will take the entire community — including parents, churches, and local organizations — to create more safe spaces and opportunities for young people.
The sheriff’s office issued a long statement to News4JAX and a quote attributed to Sheriff Michelle Cook about the issue, saying an unauthorized pop-up party brought dozens of teens to the area.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a potential pop-up party a few days prior to Saturday. We spoke with mall management, and they advised that there was no authorized event scheduled for that evening. Out of an abundance of caution we called in additional deputies to monitor the potential pop-up party.
We also participated in a safety video with mall management and made a social media post on our agency Facebook page discouraging the pop-up party. All attempts to contact the person who appeared to be the organizer of the event were unsuccessful.
At this time the mall allows unaccompanied juveniles to be on property. We walk a fine line of violating a person’s rights to be on private property while maintaining safety and security. Once the crowd became rambunctious on mall property, mall management asked CCSO to intervene.
Unfortunately, a large number of “kids” ran across Wells Road and began engaging in disorderly conduct. Deputies responded immediately. One juvenile civil citation was issued, a number of kids were detained, and parents were called for pickup.
Clay County Sheriff's Office
“Our priority is always the safety of our community, especially our youth. While we respect individuals’ rights to gather on private property, when behavior escalates and public safety is at risk, we have a duty to act. I’m proud of the proactive steps our agency took ahead of this unauthorized event, and I commend our members for their swift and measured response when the situation began to spiral. We continue to be committed to ensuring Clay County is a safe and welcoming place for all,” Cook said.