Chaos erupted at an illegal “fight club” in New York, which resulted in teens being shot and 13 people arrested, police stated.
Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Precinct responded to a report of possible gunshots fired around 6 p.m. Sunday at the Brookhaven Aquatic Center parking lot in the hamlet of Shirley in Long Island.
‘An example needs to be set.’
Once police officers arrived, they discovered that a “scuffle had broken out among several people who were attending an unauthorized fight club event,” the Suffolk County Police Department told Blaze News.
RELATED: South Carolina daycare employees accused of running child fight club, encouraging 14 toddlers to assault each other
Photo by Denys Yelmanov via iStock / Getty Images Plus
The Suffolk County Police Department said one of the participants in the alleged fight club “brandished and discharged a blank-firing gun during the scuffle, which injured a 17-year-old male and a 19-year-old male.”
The two teens were rushed to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Suffolk Police Chief of Detectives William Doherty noted to WABC-TV that “the gun was designed to fire blanks. It wasn’t a firearm that expelled the projectile, but the blanks were fired close enough to two individuals to injure them.”
Detectives with the Suffolk County Police Department charged 25-year-old Devine Brown of Mastic Beach with assault in the second degree, menacing in the second degree, prohibitive use of a weapon, and unlawful assembly. Brown was held at the Sixth Precinct jail.
The other 12 suspects, all from Suffolk County, were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and were issued field or desk appearance tickets. They include:
- Jehsiah Williams, 23, of Mastic
- Devin Black, 20, of Mastic Beach
- Tariq Nix, 20, of Mastic
- Alejandro Hightower, 20, of Holbrook
- Malachi Leftenant, 19, of Shirley
- Honest Thompson, 19, of Middle Island
- Jason Alvarez, 18, of Riverhead
- Henry Thompson, 18, of Moriches
- Lorenzo Whyte, 18, of Shirley
- Kyron Deer, 18, of Coram
- Thomas Zuzierla, 18, of Mastic
- A 16-year-old boy; police did not name him because of his age
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico told News 12 Long Island that he’s seeking tougher laws to penalize those who profit from criminal activity.
“An example needs to be set because the good people of Mastic, Shirley, Mastic Beach, and elsewhere have had it with all this stupidity,” Panico stated.
The investigation into the alleged fight club incident is ongoing. Detectives with the Suffolk County Police Department are urging anyone with information on the incident to contact the Seventh Squad at 631-852-8752.
RELATED: Students from prestigious high school caught running MMA-style fight club — then one gets charged by cops for something even dumber
This is actually the second time an unauthorized “fight club” was recently exposed in Suffolk County.
Last month, approximately 70 people attended an illegal “fight club” at Walt Whitman Park in Melville, according to Newsday.
Police said they were tipped off about the brawl at the park after the melee was publicized on Instagram.
The spectators watching the rumble — mostly young adults in their early 20s — scattered when cops arrived. However, police arrested two combatants.
Finley McCloskey and Jake Zimilies — both 19-year-old Northport residents — were issued appearance tickets and charged with unlawful assembly, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Police noted that the Instagram account that promoted the “fight club” was deactivated after the bust.
The premise of a “fight club” was first popularized by the 1996 novel “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk, which was based on his own experiences participating in secret brawl rings.
The book was adapted into the 1999 Oscar-nominated movie of the same name, which starred Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.
The most popular quote from the “Fight Club” film is regarding the secrecy of the underground fight club: “Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You DO NOT talk about Fight Club!”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Read the full article here
