Are the Gilbert Goons back or was this just Fourth of July mayhem?

Fresh off The New Yorker magazine treatment of our now infamous suburban street gang — the “Gilbert Goons” — youth violence is back in the news again.

Gilbert police have arrested two boys accused of throwing a firework into a barn and setting the structure ablaze while people were inside.

The owner of the building told The Arizona Republic she believes the two boys started the fire in retaliation for her daughter blocking them on social media. The charges they face are serious — suspicion of arson of an occupied structure, a class 2 felony, and endangerment, typically a class 1 misdemeanor.

The daughter, her cousin and eight of her friends were in the loft when a “mortar”-style firecracker was thrown into the barn.

Everyone got out as the structure burned. 

Incident follows the 'Gilbert Goons' pattern

And now the question lingers. Is this connected? 

You’ve got young troublemakers. 

You’ve got the internet. 

You’ve got retaliation. 

Is this the Goons?

As they say in west Texas, “I kindly doubt it.”

All across the country this Fourth of July, people have been igniting fireworks and starting brush and house fires, blowing off fingers and even killing themselves.

Fireworks destroyed much across America

Here’s just some of the toll from last Thursday’s Independence Day:

CHICAGO: “Father killed setting off fireworks on 4th of July”

The father of two young children and a third on the way was killed when a mortar device accidentally detonated in his hands, ABC 7 Chicago reports

BOISE, IDAHO: “100-acre grass fire in southeast Boise caused by firework” 

A 16-year-old called 911 to report the fire after launching a mortar-style firework that ignited dry grass and brush, KTVB reports. 

REDMOND, WASH.: “45-year-old man dead after being hit in head by ‘mortar style’ firework”

A 45-year-old man was lighting “mortar-style fireworks” in a parking lot when one fatally hit him in the back of the head, NBC Montana reports.

ANAHEIM, CALIF.: “Man severely injured by ‘mortar-type’ firework he was setting off” 

A man lighting fireworks suffered severe head injuries, the Orange County Register reports. 

CHICAGO: “Fourth of July fireworks spark more than a dozen house fires in Chicago, suburbs”  

Thirteen homes were set on fire by Independence Day fireworks, including one that was a total loss, NBC Chicago reports. 

BERKELEY, CALIF.: “Berkeley juvenile severely injured in fireworks mishap” 

A young person was badly injured when a firework accidentally exploded in the juvenile’s hand, CBS San Francisco reports.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CALIF.: “Unmarked Calif. Sheriff's Office vehicle damaged when mortar set off under it”

One juvenile was arrested and several detained after a group of about 30 were seen throwing fireworks and Molotov cocktails at oncoming traffic on the Fourth of July, the Sacramento Bee reports.

CRESCENT CITY, CALIF.: “A three year old boy injured following fireworks incident in Crescent City”

A young boy was seriously injured when a mortar firework struck him. The boy was airlifted to a hospital suffering from a collapsed lung, ABC 7 KRCR reports.

BROWARD COUNTY, FLA.: “Two South Florida teens had fingers blown off by fireworks on the Fourth of July”

Two teenagers using a homemade PVC-pipe mortar launcher suffered severe hand injuries when it exploded, CBS News reports.  

For now, this looks like part of a larger trend

So, it looks like Gilbert is part of a national trend about the reckless and lawless use of fireworks, and in particular, mortar fireworks.

Mortar fireworks are meant to be fired from a tube and cause a small explosion of light in the air. Aerial fireworks are prohibited in Arizona, Axios reports. Only certain ground-based devices are allowed on a few days per year, including the Fourth and New Year’s Eve.

Fireworks are frequently used illegally in this state. For instance, in 2019 Glendale police responded to 735 calls for service related to the illegal use of fireworks, The Republic reported.

Across America, some 9,700 people were injured and eight people killed by fireworks in 2023, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sixty-six percent of those injuries occurred in the weeks before and after the Fourth of July holiday. 

In a study of fireworks accidents, the American Journal of Emergency Medicine found that 90% of the patients were male and nearly 40% of those injured were from “shells/mortars.”

So, what exactly is Gilbert's problem?

Do we have a youth violence problem? Yeah, we do. Are we right to finally face up to it? Absolutely.

I’m not the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, so I don’t care what the Goons do to the image of this town. 

My wife and I moved to Gilbert in 1996 for one reason. The homes were big and cheap. Gilbert then was wood-frame construction pushing the cotton fields farther out to the hinterlands.

'Gilbert Goons' problem:Is much wider than you think

Back then, it was the inexpensive place to live, so a lot of young couples planning to raise large families moved here.

Once known as the “Hay Shipping Capital of the World,” Gilbert saw its population double every five years from 1980 to 2000 and eventually grow into a town of nearly 300,000 people.

These are large urban numbers with a cul-de-sac vibe.

Sleepy little town is no longer little or sleepy

But with any amount of people you get dysfunction. With more people you get more dysfunction. And so our sleepy little community is sleepy no longer. 

We have crime. And we have youth crime that requires a more mature and sophisticated response than we were able to muster for the Goons.

But I don’t think the Goons are back.

And if they are?

Let’s not bungle it, this time.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.