Seven detained after mall brawl

RALEIGH - "Shoppers strolled peacefully through Triangle Town Center on Sunday after a Saturday night brawl involving hundreds closed the mall early.

It took police officers from three agencies an hour to evacuate the mall and fully restore order after the fight in which seven teens were detained, a 15-year-old was stabbed and a police officer injured.

Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue said the brawl was a gang-related incident and that some of those involved have known gang associations. He declined to say whether those arrested are gang members.

According to Sughrue and arrest warrants, those arrested are:

* Tyrell Eugene Brantley, 18, 1609 E. Lenoir St., charged with inciting a riot and disorderly conduct, $5,000 bond;

* Darryl Anthony Bobbitt, 18, 1411 E. Lenoir St., charged with inciting a riot, second-degree trespassing and resisting an officer, $5,000 bond;

* Christopher James Gamble, 17, 4031 Northstone Drive, Apt. 102, charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and inciting a riot, $35,000 bond;

* Laquavis O'Neal Jordan, 16, 1701 E. Lenoir St., charged with inciting a riot; released on $5,000 bond;

* Ricky Ladd Williams, 16, 3321-101 Quail Ridge Road, charged with inciting a riot; engaging in an affray; held on $10,000 bond;

* Javonnie Nicholson, 16, 512 Bradkin Court, charged with inciting a riot, misdemeanor assault on a law enforcement officer, second-degree trespassing, $7,000 bond.

Nicholson is the lone female charged in the fracas. Police also are filing a juvenile petition against an unnamed 15-year-old who was also detained.

In a news release, police said some of the people involved are known to be associated with gangs and that the fight started as a gang-related incident. They didn't, however, name which gangs may have been involved. A bond sheet for Williams says he has a recent conviction for conspiracy to commit armed robbery "with gang conditions."

Sughrue said more arrests are possible if police are able to identify others who were involved."

Gee. And they look like such outstanding young citizens, too.

The only way to end this gang crap once and for all is to figure out a way to let them kill one another off, without harming innocent people.