An Ohio wedding celebration turned into total chaos after a group of brothers allegedly crashed the reception and attacked a guest, setting off a massive brawl between two families with a history of bad blood.
The fight broke out around 8:50 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, at the La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, about 14 miles west of Cleveland.
“We were dancing and four brothers jumped on us,” one alleged victim told police, according to video obtained by local news outlets.
What had been a lively wedding reception quickly became a panic-filled scene as guests screamed, ran for the exits and tried to get away from the fighting.
Police said one man, identified as 46-year-old Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman, allegedly grabbed a butter knife from a table setting and began threatening people with it.
Video released by police reportedly shows Sulaiman picking up the utensil and charging toward other guests while music continued playing in the banquet hall.
“We knew violence already happened from independent witnesses who called us, who said people were bloody, so we know there’s already violence going on,” Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel said.
At one point, another attendee grabbed a chair and threw it toward the man allegedly holding the knife.
Dozens of terrified wedding guests rushed outside into the parking lot as the brawl continued.
When police arrived, officers encountered at least 40 frantic people outside the venue.
One alleged victim, who appeared to still be adjusting his clothing after the confrontation, pointed officers toward the men he said had attacked him.
Authorities said the chaos appears to have stemmed from a longstanding feud involving two families who already had hostile feelings toward one another.
“People who don’t normally get together and have hostilities against each other got together for whatever reason,” Vogel said.
“In this case, it was somebody’s wedding. I don’t know all the relationships that were involved but when they got together, everything came back to the surface.”
Police have not publicly explained exactly how the two sides were connected or what originally caused the bad blood.
Sulaiman was arrested and charged with assault, inducing panic and tampering with evidence.
Authorities said he allegedly discarded the butter knife before officers arrived.
“He took it one step further and brandished an actual butter knife from a place setting evidently and was threatening people with the butter knife,” Vogel said.
Two other men were also charged in connection with the chaos.
Ali Wahdan, 47, was charged with violating a court order that authorities said was meant to protect family members who were attending the wedding.
Abdallah Wahdan, 48, was accused of threatening to hurt several guests and was charged with aggravated menacing.
Despite the shocking scene, authorities did not report any deaths.
Police later used the incident as a warning to anyone considering bringing personal grudges or family drama to someone else’s big day.
“Don’t spoil someone else’s wedding,” Vogel said.
“Now those people unfortunately are always going to be remembered as the wedding where there was a melee and fights involved. They’re not going to remember the good parts of it. They’re going to remember the bad parts.”
Why are the faces blocked out ? Could it be that they were not of European descent ?