Instead of talking about the wonderful displays, great costumes and children trick or treating, we are talking about a horrible incident in Tsawwassen this Halloween.
In a story that the Optimist broke on Tuesday night, Delta Police, Delta Fire and City officials are at a loss for words after more than 400 youth descended upon Dennison Park for a wild night of boorish behaviour.
A fireworks fight that went on for hours lead to assaults, vandalism, destroyed property and injuries to youth and two police officers.
A video that Delta Police shared with us on Tuesday is shocking. In an early video clip one teen, dressed in a white sweatshirt, is seen dodging the fireworks sent flying at his head. One narrowly missed him. I can only imagine the outcome if it would have hit him.
One young girl is not so lucky. Police say a firework burned through her jacket and she is left with a huge burn and scarring to her upper shoulder. You can see a picture of the damage in today’s print edition.
All our first responders and the mayor are appalled at the events of Monday night. Police are asking for residents to upload information, video or photos to a link on their website in the hopes of identifying the main culprits, although when you have 400-plus kids at night acting with a mob mentality, good luck trying to pin down the major offenders.
The community seems to be as outraged as evident by comments on social media, although, there are some residents – parents in fact – who are cheering on the youth who did this and celebrating what they accomplished.
That is as despicable as the youth who thought this kind of behaviour was okay.
We clearly have a problem here and I’m struggling to find the answers as to why some think this is the proper way to act.
Mayor George Harvie said it best that this is “just not a police problem, but a parent problem.” I couldn’t agree more.
