PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Two Philadelphia teens have been given custodial sentences and an 11-year-old house arrest for participating in an attack by a violent "flash mob."
A judge scolded the three as they were sentenced Thursday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. All pleaded guilty as juveniles to assault, robbery and rioting.
"Downtown is not terror town," Judge Kevin Dougherty said. "Philadelphia will not be a laughingstock because a few individuals who decide to hunt human beings and laugh about it."
A 17-year-old was sentenced to a secure juvenile facility until his 21st birthday, while a 16-year-old was sent to a residential school for troubled teens. The 11-year-old was ordered to live with his grandmother pending an evaluation this month, to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet and to only leave the house with his grandmother.
Both teens said they were members of the Young Money Gang. They said they went to Center City, taking the 11-year-old with them, for a confrontation with another gang and decided to take on other targets because they could not find their enemies.
The violence has prompted the city to impose a curfew on children and teenagers.
