Rowdy teens prompt youth curfew in Laurel

There’s a new curfew in Laurel, Maryland, after fights, illegal fireworks and a shooting disrupted the city’s Fourth of July festivities.

Thousands attended Laurel’s Independence Day Celebration at Granville Gude Park on Saturday.

Large groups of teens disrupted the event by getting into fights, setting off illegal fireworks. One teen was shot, authorities said.

“It was organized chaos, I call it,” Laurel Mayor Keith Sydnor said.

Videos on TikTok show much of the chaos happened at the Laurel Town Centre.

“It’s been a trend in various cities throughout the state of Maryland with juveniles coming into the city on purpose and causing disruption. And they happened to come into our city on July the 5th and cause some disruption that made us review some of our curfew policies,” Sydnor said.

The new temporary curfew began Friday night and will be in effect every night through August 31.

Children under the age of 17 can’t be out without an adult from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Sydnor said if police see children violating the curfew they will interview the child to find out why they’re out past 11 p.m. before taking them home or having a parent or guardian pick them up.

“Not for us to try to grab kids and lock ’em up. We want to just push the kids along. We want the parents to deliver the message. Know where your kid is at all times,” Sydnor said.

Opinions about the curfew are mixed. One man who attended the Fourth of July celebration said he didn’t see any problems.

“A lot of times it’s done on your feelings and emotions. You need to kind of set those feelings and emotions aside and have some good common sense and logic. Don’t just put a curfew or put something in because on this particular day this happened,” he said.

A grandmother who was out shopping with her grandkids on Monday told News4 teens need to be home and she supports the curfew.

“These kids don’t have no structure, no discipline, no nothing. This would help with crime with teenagers,” she said.

Sydnor said the city has activities for teens, including drop-in events at recreation centers, a safe summer nights program and “real talk” sessions for kids 13 to 17 to hear their concerns.

“We have safe spaces for them to come in and … learn stuff at the same time and have fun,” Sydnor said.

Police said no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting during the Fourth of July celebration.