Chicago‘s new mayor Brandon Johnson took issue with a reporter for using the phrase ‘mob action’ to describe a rabble of up to 400 teenagers who trashed a 7-Eleven.
A huge crowd stormed the convenience store in the South Loop just after 9pm on Sunday and wreaked havoc with some looting items and others vandalizing it.
The large gathering resulted in the arrest of at least 40 people, aged 12 to 20, as police tried to get the situation under control.
Mayor Johnson was addressing a wide-range of issues during a news conference on Wednesday including migrants, safety and the latest instance of teenagers gathering.
But he disagreed with a reporter’s use of the phrase ‘mob action’ to describe the behavior of the large group despite the fact it is a legal term.
‘That’s not appropriate. We’re not talking about mob actions,’ Mayor Johnson said on Wednesday.
‘We have to be careful when we use language to describe certain behavior.
‘There’s history in this city. I mean, to refer to children as like baby Al Capones is not appropriate.’
However, mob action is a criminal charge and may be filed against someone in several different situations.
It may apply to a group of individuals who have gathered to prepare to commit a crime and it also may apply to a group of individuals who actually commit a crime together.
It comes after a large group of young people descended to a 7-Eleven at at 560 West Grenshaw Street on Sunday.
The store was completely trashed with youngsters throwing stolen merchandise into the air and running away with armfuls of goods.
In one video, a teenager is seen setting off a fire extinguisher near the gas tanks outside the store.
