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YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown police arrested three girls Monday afternoon following an altercation at the Western Reserve Transit Authority bus station downtown.

A Youngstown police report states that officers were monitoring the bus station at 3:31 p.m. “due to multiple fights happening.” They saw three girls “attempt to go after another female” while other kids were cheering as another group tried to hold the three girls back.

While in the WRTA parking lot, the three girls again began to fight the other girl, the report states. Officers converged on the fight, which now had become “large” with additional juveniles involved.

The girl came up to officers and said she had been “jumped,” and her phone was stolen. Officers approached the three girls and saw them “taking a phone and smashing it in the road,” the report states.

The three girls were arrested and placed in a police cruiser, but officers also had to disperse a “large crowd of juveniles that were yelling.” One of the three girls refused to give her name and was threatened with an additional charge of obstructing official business.

All three girls admitted to “jumping” the other girl, and one of the three advised that the two others stole the girl’s phone. The three girls were all taken to the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center on a high-level felony of robbery charge, along with a low-level felony of aggravated rioting.

EARLIER FIGHTS

Following an incident March 13 at the downtown bus station, Youngstown police filed a report of several fights at 4:05 p.m. between juveniles who had gathered in front of the bus terminal.

Officers reported seeing 40 to 50 Youngstown City School District students gather and then several boys were slammed to the concrete as they punched and kicked one another.

One officer used pepper spray on some of the primary aggressors and bystanders before backup arrived and the crowd began to disperse, the report states.

Police were unable to make any arrests or detain anyone because of the size of the crowd.

Such incidents have apparently been a chronic and ongoing problem for a few years, specifically, during the 2024-25 and the 2025-26 school years, the police report stated. Some downtown business owners have called 911 to report such incidents, and authorities have responded to fights between high school students on a nearly daily basis during those two school years, according to the report.

Youngstown City School District spokeswoman Stacy Quinones said after the March 13 incident, the district was aware of the incident, but school officials are unable to verify the enrollment status of the students, since the incident did not take place on school property.

“Because the incidents occurred at the WRTA during nonschool hours and at a nonschool event outside our buildings, they fall outside the geographical and operational boundaries of our educational authority. The oversight of public and business spaces remains with local law enforcement and city agencies, rather than with the district or other schools whose students also use public transit,” Quinones stated in an email.

“Though we want to be clear that, at this time, it is an assumption that all involved are students from our buildings; transit hubs often include a diverse mix of adults and youth from the region,” Quinones added.

She said the school district intended to work with law enforcement and WRTA officials to identify the students who played a role in the incident. She said the school district “emphasizes the importance of reinforcing civic responsibility, even as we recognize that our ability to intervene may be limited once students have transitioned off school property or to a nondistrict event.”