MASON CITY – Police – and NIT – began receiving tips from concerned citizens Wednesday before 3:00 PM that “a lot of kids” were set to meet in a Mason City park after school and engage in a fight.
At 3:20 PM, there was no one in the Ray Rorick skate park on 15th Street SW. About an hour later, teens started to converge on the skate park and its parking lot, and police were arriving as well. Sources tell NIT that one group of teens was from Mason City and the other group was from Charles City.
Soon, a couple dozen teens were milling around the parking lot at various spots, in small groups. Three police cruisers were in the lot, and officers were asking questions of the teens, trying to find out why they were all there. Everyone seemed calm, so all the police got in their vehicles and started to drive away. An NIT reporter remained in the scene taking pictures.
As soon as the last officer drove away, several of the teens began to perform hip hop dances and make hand signals. Other teens continued to arrive at the park, some on foot, and they did not all seem thrilled to be photographed. Several flipped the “bird” and used profanity. Two groups of teens approached the NIT reporter. The first group of teens said that the NIT reporter did not have “permission” to take their photo, questioned the reporter and then took photos of him. The second group of teens said it was “weird” that they were being photographed and also appeared to be taking photos of the NIT reporter. Once they found out they were going to be in the news, the teens gladly posed for photos and promised they would be reading NorthIowaToday.com later that evening.
There was no immediate word if any physical altercations came out of the situation.
UPDATE: There were at least two fights that took place after police left, a source told NIT Thursday morning.
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