The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested three teenage girls Wednesday night after shutting down a teen takeover involving more than 200 teenagers at Blue Cypress Park in Arlington. Police said the large group began fighting at the park off University Boulevard, which led to the arrests and officers shutting down the park for the rest of the night. Around 6 p.m., police could be seen actively blocking the entrance to the park.
“We are constantly monitoring events like this, allowing our officers to be extremely prepared for any violence,” JSO said. “Our District 2 Patrol officers even held roll call at the park to increase their presence there.” Jacksonville Fire and Rescue told News4JAX that no one needed to be taken to the hospital. District 2 Patrol and Task Force officers responded to the park as the group size increased.
The takeover incident did not end when officers closed the park. A smaller group from the takeover tried moving the activities to a nearby apartment complex, where there ended up being reports of shots fired. JSO said they found no evidence that anyone had been shot. Police said the teens at the apartment complex tried to go back to the park, but officers had already blocked it off and shut it down for the night.
Multiple teen takeovers across Northeast Florida have ended in violence this year. At the Avenues Mall a little over a month ago, a teen takeover ended with reports of gunfire. JSO said no one was hit, but a vehicle with nobody in it was struck, and the teens scattered before officers could make arrests. A week after that, a Jacksonville Beach takeover ended with four people being shot, with none of their injuries being life-threatening, but the violence shut down a nearby festival for the rest of the night.
Police are asking parents and caregivers to actively help them put an end to these takeovers. “Enough is enough,” JSO wrote on social media. “Help us cut down on these takeovers by monitoring how your teen is spending their time and who they’re with. Please do not drop them off to locations without knowing why they’re there.” The agency urged parents to stay informed about their children’s activities and social circles.
Investigators say these events are usually planned online through flyers or posts on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and group chats. A location will get named – somewhere like Friendship Fountain or a mall – but there’s no permitting, no security plan and no adults in charge. Hundreds of teens can get the word in just a matter of hours online.
“We need to make sure we know what our young people are doing,” Sheriff T.K. Waters said recently when asked about how JSO is combating teen takeovers. “It’s a lot more than just the police being involved. There’s a community involvement, but there’s a parental involvement that all that stuff needs to be a part of. These are teenagers, and if they were just meeting up to have fun, it’d be great, but unfortunately, they’re bringing handguns, drugs.They’re doing a lot of different things, and if we can capture that and we can capture them, we’re going to do that.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has not announced specific charges against the three arrested teenage girls or provided details about upcoming court proceedings related to the Blue Cypress Park incident.