Bats, Hammers, More Used in Teen Brawl

Police probe what led to caught on camera melee

Police in Reading, Pa. are investigating and sorting through surveillance video of a melee that involved as many as 100 teenagers armed with boards, bats, table legs, hammers and other weapons.

Sgt. John Solecki says detectives are looking at video from surveillance cameras and bystanders who posted footage of Wednesday's brawl on Facebook.

A phone tip alerted police to video of the melee.

The Reading Eagle reports the teens were fighting at basketball courts in City Park when police responded around 4 p.m. Wednesday. At least one person, a 17-year-old boy, was taken to the hospital. Investigators say the large fight involved 75 to 100 teenagers.

Investigators say the teens scattered when police arrived, but the violence resumed minutes later.

"We're attempting to identify the actors involved in the fight as well as the actors that were holding weapons," Solecki told the paper. "We have pretty good surveillance video of those individuals."

There were two other fights involving middle and high schoolers the same day between 3 and 5 p.m., Reading Police Chief William Heim told NBC10's Monique Braxton.

Heim wasn't sure if the fights were all related.

The reasoning for the fighting isn't known.

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