RALEIGH - The fight between rival gangs that resulted in a near-riot at Triangle Town Center mall Saturday night is symptomatic of a nationwide problem, particularly in growing, dynamic places such as Raleigh, Police Chief Harry Patrick Dolan says.

Dolan says gangs are involved in all types of violent crime in the city, including robberies, which are up nearly 35 percent compared with the same period last year.

"We are receiving intelligence that part of the gang initiation is to go out and rob someone," Dolan said.

Over the past several days, gang activity has spilled out of neighborhoods into unlikely places such as the mall and the state's largest college campus.

A chance encounter between two rival gangs at Triangle Town Center resulted in skirmishes among more than a dozen young people and involved up to 300 others running through the mall. About 40 officers were dispatched to quell the disturbance that left one 15-year-old stabbed, one police officer assaulted and another injured.

Meanwhile, N.C. State University police are investigating a gang-related shooting early Monday. A man and a woman sitting at a gazebo near an NCSU apartment complex were approached by two men and shot, receiving injuries that were not life-threatening.

"The [male] victim and the suspects are members of the same gang, but they are with different sets, different factions of the same gang," NCSU Police Capt. Jon Barnwell said. "Sometimes they work together, sometimes they don't. This one led to a dispute that culminated with a shooting on our campus."

The male victim is an NCSU student, campus police reported.

Barnwell said he has not seen evidence of a growing gang presence on campus, but he agrees with Dolan. As the city grows he expects to see more gang-related activity on campus.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue noted that police have investigated 22 homicides so far this year, the same number reported during all of last year. Sughrue said about a third of the homicides reported this year involved victims, suspects or both who were affiliated with gangs.

By Sunday, police had investigated 632 robberies, compared with 469 for the same period last year. Police were unable to say what portion of robberies were committed by gang members.

"We know that there's a connection when the officers go out dealing with robberies and they know that the suspects are gang members," Sughrue said.

Dolan has said that several factors contribute to the increase in gang activity. They include a lack of support and economic opportunities for young people who are influenced by pop culture's glamorization of crime and the release of people sent to prison during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1990s.

On Monday, Dolan once again said too many young people engage in violent activity partly as a result of imitating the gang lifestyle. He described them as "wannabes" and called them a matter of real concern because they will commit serious, potentially deadly crimes to prove their mettle to the gang.

Dolan also spoke of the importance of communities across the city providing youth activities and family services to steer young people away from gangs.

"When you look and see young people -- 16, 17 and 18 years old -- taking a life or pressing a gun to a person's body to rob them and the rationale is 'Nobody cares, and I'm going to prison anyway,' the message is all neighborhoods, all families have a role to play," Dolan said. "If you know a young person has a gun and is part of that lifestyle, you have to report that. If you know something and a tragedy breaks out, then you have to bear some responsibility."

The Wake County Gang Prevention Partnership, a coalition of 70 organizations and 220 individuals, aims to use a myriad of strategies to reduce the prevalence of gangs in Wake County. Shenekia Weeks, coordinator for the partnership, said remedies include providing mentors and employment opportunities for young people.

"What we're trying to do is get the community involved," Weeks said Tuesday. "We are trying to get enough people at the table."