Video captures 'youth flash mob' vandalizing DC store, assaulting owners, during Christmas event

Surveillance video captured the moment where dozens of young people vandalized a Washington, D.C., business and assaulted owners in what is called a "flash mob."

The flash mob happened during a ZooLights event at the National Zoo in D.C. On the same night, a pair of shootings marred a ZooLights celebration at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Kevin McMahon, the owner of the ice cream shop FrozenYo, told WTTG-TV News that he and his wife were assaulted during the flash mob. The store sits across the street from the zoo.

"There were like 50 people in the store, some as young as 10 or 12, some 20 (years old)," McMahon said.

The video shows dozens of young people streaming into the store. McMahon said that he was assaulted when he tried to usher them out, and then his wife was punched in the face when she tried to help him.

"I didn't know it — my wife came out of the kitchen and tried to pull him off my back," he explained. "He punched her a couple times in the face, and this girl punched my wife two, three, four times in the face."

Carole McMahon said she needed stitches from injuries she endured during the assault.

Police say no one has been arrested for the flash mob, or the two shootings at the Christmas celebration in Chicago.

Here's a local news report on the flash mob:

This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the attack at the store happened in Washington, D.C., not Chicago.