A brawl broke out near a Miami Gardens high school Thursday and it is raising concerns for businesses in the area. NBC6’s Cherney Amhara reports.
Several teens were injured Thursday after a brawl broke out near a Miami Gardens high school — an issue witnesses say has been ongoing between two groups of students.
NBC6 witnessed a sheer number of students involved in the brawl near Miami Carol City Senior High School. In the parking lot of a nearby Family Dollar store, students were seen slamming each other to the ground and teachers and administrators running over to break it up.
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But the fight continued, spilling over into a nearby Raceway gas station on Northwest 183rd Street.
"MGPD units responded to the aforementioned area regarding a disturbance," Miami Gardens Police said in a statement. "Preliminary investigation revealed that the altercation started at the school. The altercation continued during after-school dismissal, and a large crowd of juveniles gathered at the gas station. MGPD units, along with the assistance of the Miami-Dade School Board, disbursed the juveniles from the premises."
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Jendi Gomez, the manager of the gas station, told NBC6 that three fights broke out just last week.
"This week, I’ve called the police every single day," she said. "It's gonna show in the system that I’ve been calling."
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She shared surveillance video of a fight she says happened last week. Kids are seen starting to fight by the pumps. Cellphone video also showed the violent scene from that fight.
"It's more of a racial fight, Spanish versus Afro-American," Gomez said.
NBC6 spotted at least one student being put in handcuffs and then being released a short time later.
"I’ve already been expecting it every day, so I’m already calling the police, and I was already outside," Gomez said. "The whole commotion started out here. It was like eight fights in less than 20-30 minutes."
Gomez fears the fights could escalate if something is not done.
"They slam each other, and they could easily break somebody’s neck, hurt somebody, leave them paralyzed for life," she said.
NBC6 saw one girl getting treated by paramedics at the scene and who was later released.
Miami Gardens Police and Miami-Dade County Public Schools Police responded to the melee. They have viewed surveillance video of the fight to see who started it.
