On Christmas Night over 600 kids and teenagers swarmed a movie theater in Jacksonville, Florida violently attacking moviegoers, an off duty police officer, and each other in one of the largest flash mobs to date.

Somewhere around 600 crazed teens swarmed the theater attacking people and stealing everything in sight. 62 police officers were dispatched to the theater, where they had to fire pepper spray into the crowd to get them to disperse.

400 Teens Storm Brooklyn Mall

At the same time, another flash mob swarmed a mall in Brooklyn, New York. In this case, over 400 teens stormed a Brooklyn mall violently attacking security guards, shoppers and each other. Local reports say that while part of the flash mob was violently raiding stores around the mall, another large group of teens strategically targeted innocent shoppers as part of the now infamous knockout game.

Both Attack planned on Social Media

According to police, the teens in both areas used social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to plan the violent attacks and mass looting events. Even while events unfolded, teens were still taking to the internet to brag about beating up innocent people and looting stores.

We’ve written many times in the past about how to protect yourself from these violent flash mob attacks, and one of the things we’ve always advocated is using social media as a way to protect yourself. The people who take part in these events, as witnessed in both the Brooklyn and Jacksonville cases, often plan these types of things on social media.

Before heading out to any large mall or area where large amounts of people congregate, take a couple of minutes to do some reconnaissance on social media. Jump on to sites like Twitter and type in the name of your destination; if you see a large amount of people talking about that destination it may be a sign of an impending dangerous event.