Police on Tuesday arrested six teenage girls for trapping a woman inside a Shadyside beauty supplies store while they punched, kicked and beat her with a metal sign.
The Shady Avenue store said the vicious attack left behind about $30,000 in damages.
Pittsburgh police said they were dispatched around 5:45 p.m. for a reported fight at the Sephora store inside The Meridian mixed-use development. They found a woman, who they did not name, bleeding heavily from her head.
Paramedics took the woman to an area hospital.
The victim told authorities “she had briefly engaged” with a group of teenagers while passing a bus stop, police spokesman Cara Cruz said Wednesday. The group then began following and taunting her.
The woman “briefly ducked into one business to take cover in a bathroom,” Cruz said. The group followed the woman into Sephora.
Then, police said, the girls attacked.
Inside the store, the teens screamed at the victim and began throwing glass bottles and store merchandise at her, Cruz said. They also punched her, kicked her and beat her with the sign while “others barricaded the door so she could not leave.”
The victim managed to escape as police arrived, Cruz said.
Officers said they found and detained all six teens, whose ages ranged from 14 to 17. Each was charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, simple assault and conspiracy.
Three of the six teens also were charged with providing false identification to police.
Police did not name any of the suspects. The bureau’s spokeswomen did not respond to a phone call or emails Wednesday seeking comment.
The Meridian, a mixed-use development, opened last year at the intersection of Shady and Penn Avenues, along the border of the city’s Shadyside and East Liberty neighborhoods.
The multi-story complex is anchored by a 36,000-square-foot Market District by Giant Eagle and an additional 38,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and services on its ground floor, according to information online from Echo Realty, which owns and manages the property.
The development includes 231 apartments and 240 parking garage spaces, Echo Realty said. Retailers currently open for business there include Sephora, a Barnes & Noble bookstore and a Shake Shack location.
Echo Realty and The Ophelia Residences, which manage The Meridian’s apartments, did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.
Nobody answered the phone Wednesday afternoon at the Sephora store. The company’s spokesman did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment.