A massive riot involving hundreds of juveniles and adults occurred outside an ice skating rink in the Tampa Bay Metropolitan area after a party was canceled.
FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported the large brawl occurred Saturday night in the parking lot at Astro Skate in Brandon when angry party organizers called on people to “riot” and “confront law enforcement” at the skate park in response to the cancellation.
Police say there were 400–500 people in the crowd at the time. The roller rink has a 670-person capacity limit according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office posted footage of the wild brawl on its Facebook page.
The most brutal part involves a group of hoodlums assaulting a youth inside the Time Out Barber Shop. He was beaten and hurled through the shop’s plate-glass window.
Several other individuals can also be seen beating each other up in the parking lot of the 1916 Irish Pub across the street.
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In addition to fighting, police revealed that several of the unruly youths and adults looted a nearby convenience store. They stole merchandise and caused over $500 worth of damage to the store’s wine bottle selection.
FOX 13 Tampa Bay revealed that deputies arrested 23 minors and six adults. The youths and adults were taken to the juvenile assessment center, and the adult suspects were subsequently booked into the Orient Road Jail.
The following six “adults” were taken into custody following the fight: 32-year-old Lekera Evans, 21-year-old Yazelynn Ramos, 20-year-old Malik Carter, 18-year-old Jadyn Sebro, 18-year-old Aliyah Alfonso, and 18-year-old Fareed Carter.
All six were charged with trespassing. Ramos and Sebro were also charged with disorderly conduct, while Evans was charged with resisting an officer’s orders without violence.
Hillsborough County Chad Chronister condemned the riot and credited the deputies for professionally handling the situation.
“I am outraged by the violent and disruptive behavior that targeted hard-working people and businesses and created harm, fear, and chaos in our community. Let me make this unequivocally clear: this violent and destructive behavior will never, under any circumstances, be tolerated in Hillsborough County,” he said.
“When responding to a scene as hectic as this, our deputies must account for potential danger from any direction,” he continued. As you can see in the horrifying footage, these individuals had no regard for safety. Our deputies had to step in to defuse the situation professionally and swiftly.”
Robbie Remon, the 1916 Irish Pub manager, said incidents like this have happened before and compared the brawls, including this one, to the book Lord of the Flies.
“They’ll run in here. They’ll yell. They’ll go up to the tables, Take food off the tables,” he explained. “Last year, one kid got arrested because he slapped one of my patrons outside, a female.”
“It’s exactly like Lord of The Flies,” he continued. “Very feral is the only way to describe it,”
