I agree with your dislike of absolutes but surely we are allowed to extrapolate if risk value is high. That's why I wear a seatbelt on every trip despite the fact that I've never been involved in a major car crash and don't expect to be.

If it is true that gang activity is rising in schools and if it is true that a 300-person gang-related riot occurred in a mall that presumably had been considered safe, perhaps it makes sense for parents to take a critical look at their own local "safe" mall.

FWIW I was there during a riot in (of all places) Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand. See http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/queen-street-riots-1984 . I was lucky enough to get off the street and into an electronics store whose proprietor I knew. We battened the hatches and prepared to repel boarders as chaos unfolded outside. Predictable? I doubt it. You can't predict mob mentality and nothing any parent might have suggested would have prepared for this.

As for safety in the US: I've visited malls in many cities and have never perceived any safety risk at all. Any school-age kids I do see are respectful and more likely to address an adult as "sir" than to try to stab him- at least that's how it seemed to me. Perhaps my grim demeanor puts them off. ;-)