73 arrests, 3 stabbings, brawls, and a boardwalk shutdown in a Jersey Shore town over Memorial Day weekend: ‘It wasn’t great’

Brawls and stabbings led to a boardwalk shutdown in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, over Memorial Day weekend, officials said, adding that police arrested 73 people.

Seaside Heights police arrested 52 adults and 21 juveniles between 6 a.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Memorial Day, NJ.com reported, adding that 100,000 visitors flocked to the beach enclave over the weekend. Seaside Heights is about 45 minutes south of Asbury Park and a little less that two hours east of Philadelphia.

The owner of Berkeley Candy on the Seaside Heights boardwalk told Blaze News that he was inside his store and “saw some fights,” but that “it’s always been this way” on Memorial Day weekend.

“It wasn’t great,” one Seaside Heights boardwalk store owner told Blaze News on Tuesday in regard to the violence and calamity that tends to transpire at this time every year.

The owner of Twisted Fish Beach Store added to Blaze News that despite the problems, “we stayed safe” and remained “in pretty good shape.”

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The same can’t be said of three young adults who reportedly were stabbed in separate incidents within a block of the boardwalk, Seaside Heights Detective Steve Korman told NJ.com.

Police told News 12 New Jersey a 21-year-old was stabbed in the back at Webster Avenue around 8 p.m. Saturday; a 22-year-old was stabbed in the hip while in the area of Sherman Avenue and Ocean Terrace around 6:45 p.m. Sunday; and an 18-year-old was stabbed at Kearny Avenue and Ocean Terrace at midnight Monday.

What’s more, the boardwalk was temporarily shut down after midnight Monday following the third stabbing, Korman told NJ.com. None of the stabbing victims cooperated with police, Korman also told NJ.com, adding that no arrests were made in connection with the stabbings.

The owner of Berkeley Candy on the Seaside Heights boardwalk told Blaze News that he was inside his store and “saw some fights,” but that “it’s always been this way” on Memorial Day weekend — and in pretty much “every town resort town” up and down the East Coast.

NJ.com said among the weekend’s arrestees was a 21-year-old man who was charged with possession of a firearm, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, resisting arrest, and obstruction after police answered a call about a reported fight.

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Blaze News reported about a massive brawl that took place May 17 when 300 teens descended upon the Menlo Park Mall in Edison and ran amok — and even fought with cops. A TikTok influencer organized the headline-grabbing “meetup.” Edison is about an hour and a half northwest of Seaside Heights.

In addition, News 12 New Jersey in a separate story reported that after as many as 500 juveniles showed up Saturday to a “TikTok pop-up party” at the carnival in Woodbridge, multiple fights broke out when fair officials stopped letting people in at 7 p.m. — and then the crowd moved to the Woodbridge Center mall. Authorities told News 12 New Jersey that officers from five nearby municipalities got on board to help get the crowd under control. Woodbridge is about 20 minutes northeast of Edison.

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