New Jersey community celebration canceled after police notified about threats of violent activity
A community celebration in South Jersey has been canceled after law enforcement officers discovered threats of violent activity were being shared on social media.
Gloucester Township Day has been a beloved tradition for more than 40 years. It's a chance to bring families together, and it helps raise scholarship money for high school students, but local leaders say they would be negligent if they allowed this event to continue this year.
"We could not take the risks that unruly mobs of juveniles would show up," said David Mayer, mayor of Gloucester Township.
Last year's Gloucester Township Day took a turn when 10 teenagers and two adults were arrested after multiple fights broke out.
Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins said the problems at the 2024 event began when at least 500 teenagers and young adults arrived at Veterans Park ahead of the event's drone show.
Police said large groups began fighting each other and running through the crowd at the summertime celebration. To protect families at the park, officers moved the large group of teenagers and young adults to The Marketplace, a shopping center across from the park on Chews Landing Road, where multiple fights continued to break out.
The mayor and police chief say new threats of possible violence forced them to cancel this year's event.
"The social media comments have openly encouraged violence and the use of firearms, which has escalated concerns regarding public safety," Harkins said.
Harkins said a social media post promoting the family-friendly event, which was set for June 7, was copied to a private TikTok account and viewed more than 220,000 times. He said some of the 800 comments read, "Round 2," "Ready to turn up," and "Going to be causing mayhem."
"Even if we increased police presence and security measures, the risk to the safety of just one person, whether a resident, a visitor, or an officer, is simply too great," Harkins said.
The Gloucester Township Day Scholarship Committee said last year's event helped raise $30,000, which was the majority of the money that was handed out to college-bound seniors.
"We're putting our heads together to try to figure out how we can make up the money that we're not going to be getting this year," said Dick Hollinshead, part of the Gloucester Township Day Scholarship Committee.
Denise Coyne lives in the township.
"It's just a shame that a bunch of teenagers win, and that the residents lose out in the situation," Coyne said.