Over Memorial Day weekend, three Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA were viciously attacked by a mob of “between 10 and 30” teenagers in San Clemente after the Marines asked the teenagers to stop setting off fireworks. The despicable attack was caught on video then posted to Nextdoor, then spread on social media.

As you can see, participants were egged on by others until two adults broke it up.

According to CBS Los Angeles, one resident made multiple calls to the Sheriff’s Department about the “unruly crowd” at the pier prior to the attack. A different view of the fight is shown in this video.

One of the Marines who was attacked said that there were 30 to 40 people in the crowd, and after debris from fireworks hit one of them in the face they took action. He told CBS:

And they were lighting off fireworks. They were being belligerent. They were being obnoxious and annoying other people, so we went up to them and told them to stop.

He also said that they identified themselves as Marines to the group, hoping that would carry some weight.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department detectives are investigating, and on Tuesday nine juveniles were arrested.

Five of the suspects were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and admitted to juvenile hall. The four others were charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.

“They typically don’t take juveniles into custody for misdemeanors,” said [Mayor Chris] Duncan. “They will go through the process out of custody.”

Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said:

“This is considered an assault with a deadly weapon because of the amount of suspects we are investigating. The weapons that were used were their feet while these victims were on the ground. So, regardless if the victims choose prosecution or choose medical attention the sheriff’s department is going to investigate this to the fullest….”

Five juvenile suspects arrested in assault on United States Marines. Anyone with info is asked to call Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 949-425-1956. Anonymous information may be provided through Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.@ocsheriff @ocsdsanclemente pic.twitter.com/u8ULKYAtEp

— OCDA Todd Spitzer (@OCDAToddSpitzer) May 31, 2023

Although San Clemente is a relatively safe town and always has been, in the comments on the video in the Facebook group numerous residents said they felt unsafe during recent nighttime excursions to the pier.

On Saturday San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan said that the City Council had recently unanimously voted to hire four additional deputies to patrol the beach areas and that, “We must come together to condemn this type of violence and ensure these situations do not occur in the future.”

Condemning this type of violence is the very least that needs to be done. It’s clear that in cities all over the country young people are being allowed to think their mob mentality is okay, and that they can enforce their whims through group violence – even when they are being called out for dangerous and disrespectful actions. That’s not how America has ever worked and not how it should work – and especially not how it should work related to honoring and respecting those serving in our Armed Forces. Every single kid who participated in this melee should be shipped off to boot camp and then, if they survive that, deployed to a place where the locals don’t enjoy the same civil rights they were born with.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was updated to reflect the arrest of nine suspects.)