Dispute between rival chess teams. Update to a previous story.
Via WDRB
A Louisville youth gang known as YNO, or “Young ‘N Off That,” did not gather at Waterfront Park March 22 to memorialize Me’Quale Offutt, the teen stabbed to death on a TARC bus on March 16, according to an FBI email that was not intended to be made public.
Instead, according to the email the FBI sent to law enforcement agencies, YNO went to the park to fight another gang, “believed to be TYS – Trill Young Savages,” whose members had been “talking smack” about Offutt. When the TYS members didn’t show, according to the memo, “mob violence” ensued.
The email was written in the wake of the spate of youth violence that started at Waterfront Park on March 22.
On Wednesday, the FBI issued a statement saying the email “contained raw, unverified intelligence generated from various sources.
“Due to the fact that it dealt with a threat of violence, it was immediately sent to law enforcement partners. The contents of this e-mail are considered law enforcement sensitive,” the FBI said.
Meanwhile, Louisville Metro police acknowledged getting the memo but Chief Steve Conrad said he has “no idea” who is the source of the FBI’s information and whether it is true or not.
“I don’t know how credible any of that information is,” he said.
But Conrad said the information provided by the FBI “allows us to do the planning we need to do to prepare for events coming our way.”
Mary Trotman, a legal advisor for the FBI Kentucky office, would not say who originated the memo, which also includes potential threats that YNO wants to beat up Anthony Allen, the man who was not indicted in connection with the TARC stabbing, and his daughter.
Trotman said the email was supposed to be only for law enforcement, but has “gone viral.”
The memo also mentions threats that YNO members may be planning to show up in large numbers at the Derby Festival’s Pegasus Parade.
Trotman said no threats in the memo have been substantiated.
Asked about the threat to the parade, Conrad said there are fights and arrests every year and the department “will be prepared.”
YNO, according to the memo, is comprised mainly of local middle school students and is one of six smaller gangs that are all affiliated with a larger group known as “The Family.”
Conrad said he had not personally heard of YNO but that others in the department were familiar with the gang.
The violent spree that began at Waterfront Park led to 20 crime reports for incidents ranging from robbery to assault. Police arrested two suspects — 18-year-old Shaquazz Allen and 19-year-old Tyrone Booker – in connection with allegedly knocking a woman unconscious in a car at First and Liberty Streets.
The two men were charged with assault, criminal mischief and unlawful imprisonment.
Sgt. Phil Russell, a police spokesman, said that a juvenile was arrested Monday on a charge of robbery and rioting stemming from the mob violence at Bader’s Food Mart at 300 S. First St. On Tuesday, a 14-year-old was charged with multiple counts of robbery, rioting and burglary.
Another juvenile is expected to be charged in the next few days, he said.