Young people harassing local businesses, prompting request from Carnegie police

People in Carnegie are speaking out after multiple reports of a group of young people allegedly harassing businesses and people in the area. 

Carnegie police said many of the interactions were recorded for social media. Now police are asking business owners and anyone who witnesses the behavior to report it directly to police.

Sgt. Shawn Seaman on Monday told KDKA about some of the incidents that involve young people entering local businesses, yelling obscenities and racial slurs and then running out. One incident was recorded on Meta glasses. Seaman says the young people involved range in age from 11 to 14.

"They are yelling obscenities, yelling racial slurs, just to get a rise out of people that are inside and just trying to cause a disturbance," said Seaman.

Seaman says police know who the young people are and want businesses to report incidents when they happen.

"They need to call us immediately through 911," Seaman said. "A lot of our businesses are not calling us. They are just making Facebook posts on the Carnegie community page. We don't know that cause we don't monitor that." 

Police say the incidents have been reported at restaurants, gas stations and inside a big-box store in nearby Scott Township.

Michael Ploetz, owner of Woolly Bear Books, found himself caught in the middle of one of the incidents.

Ploetz says the behavior is part of a broader social media trend known as "rage bait," where people intentionally provoke others to get a reaction and views.

"It's called 'rage bait' and there's a whole genre," said Ploetz. "They want to get reactions out of people, so it's by no means exclusive to Carnegie."

Ploetz says he never expected it to happen in Carnegie, but he doesn't feel his business was specifically targeted.

"I want to push back gently on the term 'targeted' if I can, only because I think in talking to some of the business owners, this has become so widespread that it's essentially a wrong place, wrong time thing where they want to get a video of whoever they can, if it's a business owner, if it's a pedestrian," said Ploetz.

Ploetz says he's glad police are getting involved and would like to see more patrols in the area.

Another Carnegie business owner, Barbara Johnson of More Than Words Fine Paper, says she believes the community can play a role in helping prevent young people from getting involved in this type of behavior.

"I think this is when it's important for the community to consider stepping up and helping these kids get involved in groups or organizations, so that they do have something to do with their time," said Johnson.

Seaman says police intend to act on reports involving the young people, but they need businesses and residents to contact them directly.

Police say they don't believe the young people are targeting one particular group or type of business.

"It is just these kids going into whatever business they can, and they're trying to be I guess what they would deem funny, even though it is not funny what they are doing," said Seaman.

Business owners also want to make clear that they don't believe the behavior is unique to Carnegie.

They say similar social media harassment trends are happening in communities across the country, and they don't want the incidents to detract from the new businesses and activity happening in the area.