BRANDON, Fla. – The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has arrested twenty-three juveniles and six adults following a violent disturbance in Brandon on Saturday.
At approximately 9:20 p.m., HCSO received a call from an off-duty deputy at Astro Skate requesting assistance with a large crowd fighting in the parking lot.
Deputies say the fight erupted apparently because a planned after-party was canceled. Astro Skate requires individuals hosting private parties to hire an off-duty deputy for the event, which these individuals failed to do.
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Consequently, the party was canceled, and their money was refunded.
Following this, the ‘party group’ took to social media asking people to come and riot at the business and confront law enforcement, which led to a large crowd gathering and fighting in the parking lot.
When deputies arrived, they encountered a crowd of approximately 400-500 people at the parking lot of Astro Skate and nearby businesses. Deputies issued multiple warnings, informing the crowd they were trespassing and needed to leave.
Despite this, the crowd continued fighting, damaging businesses, stealing, and disrupting business operations.
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One group broke away and attacked a juvenile inside the Time Out Barber Shop. The victim was beaten and thrown through the shop’s plate-glass window. The victim was transported to Tampa General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries but had a severe cut on his hand.
Another group entered a convenience store, damaging wine bottles worth over $500 and stealing an undetermined amount of merchandise, deputies say.
After refusing to comply with law enforcement, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office took into custody 23 juveniles and 6 adults.
The adult arrestees were booked at Orient Road Jail, and the juveniles were transferred to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
“I am outraged by the violent and disruptive behavior that targeted hard-working people and businesses and created harm, fear and chaos in our community. Let me make this unequivocally clear: this violent and destructive behavior will never, under any circumstances, be tolerated in Hillsborough County,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “When responding to a scene as hectic as this, our deputies must account for potential danger from any direction. As you can see in the horrifying footage, these individuals had no regard for safety, our deputies had to step in to defuse the situation professionally and swiftly.
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