It was the first day of school in Baltimore, and something else was being organized outside the classrooms.
A simple message was circulating on social media: meet at The Rotunda, a shopping center in the Hampden neighborhood, as soon as classes ended. What appeared to be a simple teenage gathering brought together dozens of students on Monday afternoon. Amid the crowd, two scooter crashes and a fight involving several female students occurred, according to police.
The property owner requested intervention, and officers ended up escorting both the students and customers who had nothing to do with the gathering out of the location. Police dispersed the crowd without further incidents and regulated traffic in the area. So far, no arrests have been confirmed, and the exact ages of those involved are unknown, but the episode served as a reminder of how quickly a post can turn into real-world chaos.