An incident on Valentine’s Day in which three teenage girls were allegedly battered in Algonquin has led to juvenile court charges against a 13-year-old boy, Algonquin Deputy Police Chief Timothy Cooney said.

Cooney said a group of 15 to 20 boys, ranging in ages from 8 to 15, had been in the area of the Randall Road pedestrian tunnel when the three girls – ages 12, 15 and 16 – walked past.

“A dispute between members of both groups then escalated into a physical altercation,” Cooney wrote in an email. “There are varying accounts of what caused the initial dispute.”

The girls were reportedly struck by multiple, closed-fist punches and knocked to the ground. One of the girls was treated by emergency service personnel at the scene for reportedly minor injuries and released to her parents, Cooney said.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, Cooney said.

The pedestrian underpass, between Harnish Drive and Bunker Hill and Huntington drives, opened in late summer 2021.