A wedding celebration in Ohio descended into chaos after a fight between two families reportedly erupted inside the reception, sending guests running and police rushing to the scene.
The brawl broke out Friday, Aug. 21, at the La Centre Conference & Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, according to local reports citing the Westlake Police Department.
Police were called to the venue at around 8:50 p.m. after receiving multiple 911 calls about a large fight.
Video from inside the reception appeared to show one guest throwing a chair near a crowd of people as others scrambled to get away. Guests could be heard yelling “Oh my God” while fleeing through the banquet hall.
Additional surveillance footage showed two people confronting each other outside the venue before the situation escalated and other guests stepped in to separate them.
Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel said officers already knew the situation had turned violent before they arrived.
“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,” Vogel told WJW. “We don’t know if there’s weapons.”
Police said the fight was still underway when officers reached the reception.
Authorities separated those involved and remained at the venue while paramedics treated injured guests and investigators gathered witness statements.
Police eventually determined that the confrontation allegedly stemmed from longstanding tension between two families attending the wedding.
Three men were arrested.
Police identified one of them as 47-year-old Ali Wahdan, who allegedly attended the wedding despite being subject to a temporary protection order requiring him to stay away from certain family members who were there.
He was charged with violating the protection order.
Vogel said anyone under such an order is responsible for leaving if they encounter the protected person, even if the meeting was not planned.
“If you see this person, even if you’re there accidentally at the same time, you have to leave,” Vogel told WJW. “It is your responsibility to leave. This person chose not to leave.”
A second man, 48-year-old Abdallah Wahdan, was charged with aggravated menacing after allegedly threatening to harm other wedding guests.
Police also arrested 46-year-old Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman, who was charged with assault, inducing panic and tampering with evidence.
Authorities alleged Sulaiman even grabbed a butter knife from one of the reception place settings and threatened people with it.
“[Sulaiman] 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 told WJW.
Despite the arrests and the chaotic scene, police said the reception eventually resumed and continued without any additional disturbances.
But Vogel said the wild brawl will likely be what many guests remember most about the night.
“Their wedding night gets ruined by some bad apples,” he said. “People aren’t going to talk about the wedding, they’re going to talk about the melee that happened during the wedding.”
Abdullah AND Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman –
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