My former uncle-in-law Mitchel Sommers was randomly attacked by a flash mob of teenagers last month in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. Here’s an excerpt from the local paper:
Downtown Greensboro “Flash Mob” Beating Investigated By Police
Greensboro, N.C. – You’ve probably heard of the term “flash mob.” It’s when groups of people use social media to pick a place to meet up and often sing a song or do a dance. Usually, those gatherings are fun. But, some are turning violent.
This past weekend, a former mayor had his business vandalized and another community leader got beat up in Center City Park.
“One of the teenagers came up from behind and just punched me in the back and kicked me and knocked me to the floor. Then, he just continued to kick me, punch me, step on me. People were screaming,” Mitchel Sommers, executive director of the Community Theatre of Greensboro said.
The swarm came from nowhere and the beating lasted seconds.
“Within a minute, I’d say, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds…I’m not being dramatic…hundreds of young people…just came descending upon this area,” he said. “There were so many young people. I would say all the way from across Elm Street all the way to the park. You couldn’t even get out of the swarm of young people.”
“All these young people have nothing to do but to head downtown and beat up a 58 year old guy minding his own business in the park,” Sommers said.
…Sommers wants to be part of the solution.
“It’s not going to scare me from coming downtown. It’s going to motivate me to find other ways to get people engaged and thinking differently than the way they were thinking that night,” Sommers said.
My cousins say he’s okay (no injuries). What a mass-random act of violence. Glad you are okay Mitchel.