Mall, police thwart Tosa West flash mob

A campaign to gather a mob of Tosa West students at Mayfair Mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year was thwarted by local police and mall management.

According to the Wauwatosa police:

More than 130 teens joined a Facebook group organizing a "flash mob," a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform some type of activity, during the early afternoon Dec. 23. Group initiators planned on running through the mall playing freeze tag.

Mall management got wind of the prank and worried it could quickly become a safety hazard with the large crowds expected to be out shopping that day. A list of group members was created, and those people were "banned" from the mall for the day.

Police talked to the four students heading up the group and their parents and learned no one wanted to cause any problems. They agreed to call off the flash mob.

One 14-year-old boy didn't get the message or decided to go it alone because he showed up at Mayfair at 12:05 p.m. He was not allowed to enter and was told if he returned that day he would be cited for trespassing. About 10 minutes later he tried a different entrance and police kept that promise. The boy got a ticket for trespassing and the one-day ban turned into a one-year ban.