CLEVELAND — Five teenagers are accused of vandalism after breaking into a downtown Cleveland building. Police heard glass breaking as they investigated the crime on Tuesday morning.
Police arrested the teens, ages 16 and 17, and released them to their parents. An 18-year-old was also arrested.
This happened less than 24 hours after Mayor Justin Bibb talked about wanting to tackle kids and crime in the new year.
"Too many young people are getting caught up in violent crime activity,” Bibb said.
Other recent headlines about teenagers have been much worse.
Children accused of stealing a car and crashing during a police chase, a 17-year-old charged in a deadly shooting of another teenager at a convenience store, and teens taking over a street before shots were fired, killing another teenager.
"The recent news is out of control, and I’m like, I’m glad I got my hand over my boys because there is so much going on, and they could get caught up just being with friends,” Brenda Newsome said.
News 5 Investigator Tara Morgan first met Newsome in August 2024 when her two sons, 16-year-old Sincere and 13-year-old Sayveion, were in a summer mentorship bootcamp.
"I want my kids to be way better than a lot of us in our family, and my son is showing me he’s going to do that,” Newsome said.
On Monday, Bibb and Police Chief Annie Todd touched on teen violence during a news conference on reducing violent crime.
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"If there’s a space where I want to make sure we are as a city, we are doing more in being more thoughtful and intentional about, it’s about juvenile crime,” Bibb said.
The mayor wants to examine what’s leading teens to that life.
Kareem Smith says factors like stress, trauma, and poverty play a part. Smith runs the mentorship program called The Safety Unit, the same one Newsome’s boys completed successfully.
“It’s all about consistency, it’s all about staying consistent and being available for them in their life,” Smith said.
But what about parents in all of this?
“Parents should be held responsible, from my experience, especially the fathers. I think a lot of pressure is put on the mothers when these kids are involved,” Smith said.
The parents of the 16 and 17-year-olds arrested overnight Tuesday at the Rockefeller building were cited for curfew violations.
In Monday’s news conference, Chief Todd said it’s all they can do right now to hold parents accountable.
"We will continue to have conversations with our leaders about if there’s more effective ways for accountability of the parents,” Todd said.
Newsome thinks parents should just get more involved.
“I think I’m paying attention, I think I’m doing OK,” Newsome said.
Charges are pending against the 18-year-old arrested Tuesday at the Rockefeller building.
