WATCH: Security Uses Tear Gas to Break Up Massive Crowd Brawl During High School Basketball Tournament
Bad crowd behavior reached a new low Wednesday night when security resorted to tear gas to break up a brawl that spilled onto the basketball court during a high school tournament.
The crowd fight put one of the country’s top high school basketball tournaments on pause when it interrupted the 49th John Wall Holiday Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. The tournament was renamed in 2016 when NBA All-Star and Raleigh native John Wall became its title sponsor.
It’s unclear what prompted the fight that broke out at Wake Technical Community College’s Northern Wake campus, but players were not involved. The brawl occurred during halftime of the matchup between Farmville Central and Life Christian Academy from Kissimmee, Fla.
Others from the crowd videoed the on-court brawl between fans which depicted absolute chaos as people were bodyslammed and chairs were thrown before security eventually used tear gas to clear the floor.
Pepper spray used to break up huge #fight at #NBA player John Wall’s holiday high school basketball tournament.😳 pic.twitter.com/QneqnUeXdU
— The Info Spot (@TheInfoSpot) December 30, 2021
Tournament spokesperson Bryan Hanks defiantly ensured a similar incident would not take place as the event restarted Thursday.
“This event has taken place for 49 years we’ve never had anything even close to something like this,” Hanks told WRAL. “I can guarantee you nothing like that happen today is going to happen today.”
Security was reportedly thin Wednesday night because of a separate fight that broke out during an earlier game.
Watch above via WTVD
