A brother, believed to be 17, and his younger sister barricaded themselves into a bedroom along with some guests in a Melbourne suburb after a Facebook party invitation drew gatecrashers battering down the door to get in.
As reported by local paper The Age, the party, advertised to the friends of the young hosts, started around 6 pm on Saturday.
Their father was on a trip to Queensland for the week.
Neighbors told the newspaper varying numbers for the horde that showed up: a neighbor who identified herself as Lee said it was a crowd of between 100 to 200 youths, nearly all male, between the ages of 14 to 20.
Another neighbor who identified herself as Maddy said that the gatecrashers started to swarm and swirl around in front of the house, until they finally tried to get in around 11:30 pm.
That’s when the younger sister slammed the door on them, Maddy said.
The uninvited youths made a few more tries to get in, then they started punching and kicking at the doors and windows. A waste bin was thrown at a window, and as of Sunday morning, trash was still strewn about the front yard.
The unruly mob armed themselves with pulled-up garden stakes that had been holding up trees in the street.
The Age quotes another neighbor, named Ryan:
They were punching and kicking and then they managed to kick in the front door and smashed the front window… there were about 30 or 40 of them. As soon as the front window broke they were like in a frenzy.
According to Victoria Police Superintendent Stuart Bateson, several party guests, including the teenage girl host, barricaded themselves in a bedroom while their home was trashed.
Terrified neighbors locked themselves in their homes and grabbed a cricket bat for protection. Others said that they saw the gatecrashers looting, hauling away TV sets, computers and other valuables.
According to a police report, police who initially responded had to retreat when a group of at least 50 youths charged them.
Additional police were called in for backup, along with a helicopter. Three people were injured and treated at the scene. The home was extensively damaged.
The teen hosts are, understandably and rightfully so, pretty abashed at this point. No reports yet on what Dad said when he heard about his home getting desecrated while he was away.
Of course, this isn’t the only story about parties gone social media-ishly berserk. We’ve also seen:
- One spectacularly trashed mansion. Thanks, hashtag #MansionParty!
- One London home redecorated with vomit thanks to 600 gatecrashers showing up, courtesy of another open Facebook invitation
- A 16th birthday party whose Facebook invitation was set to “anyone” – as in, everybody on Facebook. 1,500 showed up
For you future party hosts who’d prefer a more intimate event, check your invite’s settings before you post it.
Remember, it’s easy for things to spread on social media. Then, it’s all fun and games – until, at least, somebody sets the garden shed on fire or gets chased down the street by a baton-wielding cop.
bbusschots
It reads like you are blaming the kids for the actions of wild mob. Surely that is not your intention? The kids come in for condemnation on this piece, but not the mob. Is that not bordering on victim blaming? Nothing posted of facebook in any way justifies the behaviour of the mob, they are the ones to be condemned, not the kids.
Dan
Here is where you are wrong, and as a parent I would blame my children for this unruly act of mob mentality. Had they not posted a party invite on Facebook or another Social Media venue, then their would have been no mob. These kids learned a valuable lesson here, and I hope they think twice about their use of social media in the future. Its like those people who post when they are going on vacation, and their homes get robbed. In my opinion, these people should not get recouped for their losses via home owners insurance due to their negligence.
Bryan
“should not get recouped for their losses via home owners insurance”
I agree with all your comment but this. My dad was a great parent and tried his best, but at seventeen I was just a bullheaded ass who didn’t appreciate anything. I wasn’t the type to throw parties, but I did plenty of other dumb stuff simply out of spite. I envision him here at wits’ end trying to mold me into a useful member of society and (finally now) commend his patience, only to suffer public embarrassment and a huge homeowner’s expense to merely recover what he had last week.
To have put him in this spot it would’ve been unfair to him and in defiance of his earnest and steadfast efforts to teach me the ways of the Force. Sometimes despite the best effort of the best parents–kids are just gonna be dumb.
This kid’s friends all learned the same valuable lesson without losing any property.
Mike
Is it possible to have security without victim blaming?
Openly advertising a house party on Facebook puts you at risk. This needs to be communicated.
Julie Miller
Who invited the mob?
Bryan
Teaching kids to be responsible does not include helping place the blame elsewhere. In the days before FaceBook announcements, my brother had numerous “events” while my parents were out of town–none ever involved the law or the media.
True, each member of the mob should be addressed. But even if that were possible the kid who posted needs to understand that a very easy brain check would have prevented ALL of this. In a handful of years my son will reach the age where that knowledge could save me thousands of dollars, raised insurance rates, lawsuits, and my relationships with my neighbors.
This invitation was equivalent to my brother canvassing the entire south side of town with flyers, and while he could never do that accidentally, digital kids in the digital millennium need to learn digital security a bit digitearlier than “party age.”
Cliff
New TV or movie plot based on roving gangs of Internet crazed teens, think Mad Max, breaking into the homes of innocent teens, whose only fault was that they announced a party on a completely unsecured medium.
Jim Stockley
“Hoard” ???
maybe you mean “horde”?
Anna Brading
Fixed. Sorry about that.
Anonymous
Wow, neighbors armed themselves with cricket bats. A few shotguns would have turned the bad people around. But wait! The Aussies have been disarmed, how sad…
linacguy
Had the Aussies not been disarmed, would the mob not have also had guns?
Julie Miller
“Victim blaming”– seriously? That’s the big concern?
Stupid kids post public invitation on net while parents are out of town. An unruly mob of other stupid teens shows up to party, and gets made when not welcomed in. Being young and ignorant often leads to unforeseen, dire consequences.
I’m sure the worst “victim” was the dad, who was punished by having to pay for the damages, and endured all the stress and interaction with law enforcement and media.
Yes, I’m sure the kids who invited their FB “friends” had the wits scared out of them, and in that sense are also “victims.” But what they did was 100 kinds of dangerous and wrong. Of course, it’s up to their parents, but they should be punished, not coddled as if they had nothing to do with the mess that unfolded. if they were mine, they get 100 hours of community service (volunteer work) at the nearest homeless shelter or old folks’ home. To say nothing of cleaning up the mess, and repainting the house- perhaps two or three times.
.