The high school graduation of more than 100 Los Angeles County teenagers, including nearly 30 who are on probation, turned violent when a massive fight broke out.
The melee unfolded Thursday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, when authorities say a community member jumped over the second-floor balcony to assault one of the graduates.
“I had just gotten on stage when suddenly, kids from an alternative education and probation school started fighting,” witness Brianna Valdez he told Fox LA.
‘The girls fought, the boys fought. ‘She was really scared,’ she said. “It’s like we were here to have a happy time and everything was ruined by gang activity.”
The situation escalated when gunshots were reported outside the concert hall as students and their families were leaving the ceremony around 5 p.m.
A massive fight broke out at a graduation ceremony of more than 100 high school students when an unidentified individual jumped from a second-story balcony to attack one of the teenagers.
“We were leaving the ceremony and there was a car on the other side,” Raúl Valdez said.
“We just saw gunshots and we saw the smoke and everything, and everyone hit the ground.”
Another witness said he saw someone throw his mother to the ground to cover her body, telling her: ‘Mom, get down, they’re shooting.’
Javonte Jamison also claimed he saw someone bleeding outside.
“It looked like he had just finished fighting and I could see the car stop, that they were about to do something for sure,” he said.
“You could see the smoke from the guns, the shells hitting the ground and just coming off.”
Footage showed several students fighting at the graduation ceremony, which included about 30 students on probation.
It’s still unclear what started the fight and whether a shooting outside was related.
It is still unclear what the reason for the mass brawl was and whether the shooting outside the Concert Hall was related.
But the Los Angeles County Probation Department said its 29 graduates were already outside the auditorium when the fight began.
“All juvenile detainees on probation had already left the auditorium and were placed in a secure holding area before the incident occurred,” the department said. he said in a statement.
“The Probation Enforcement Special Operations Unit responded quickly, containing the incident and restoring order within the auditorium.”
No injuries were reported and four people were arrested after the altercation.
Their identities and the charges against them have not been revealed.