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Multiple juveniles arrested following fights at St. Mary Magdalene Parish Festival in Willowick

Police say that officers deployed a PepperBall gun to help control the crowd.

WILLOWICK, Ohio — Multiple juveniles were arrested following fights that broke out at the St. Mary Magdalene Parish Festival in Willowick on Sunday.

In a release posted to its Facebook page, Willowick Police said that in addition to officers who were already working at the festival, all of its road officers, as well as officers from the Eastlake, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Willoughby Hills and Kirtland Police Departments responded to multiple reports of fights breaking out. 

While the decision was made to close the festival early, problems continued with individuals continuing to fight with the issues spilling into the business area along Vine Street and residential areas.

"Everybody started running," recalled 17-year-old Treven Weiss. "People were going down near Wendy's, people were running towards AutoZone and it was just really hectic."

Police say that officers deployed a PepperBall gun to "assist in crowd dispersal" and that multiple arrests were made. 

"This is very sad," added vendor Kimberly Ferrick. "The kids need to learn respect for others"

All individuals arrested were juveniles, including a male who was found to be in possession of a handgun, although the handgun was never presented in any manner and shots were never fired.

Weiss is glad that it didn't get any worse in the aftermath of the festival. "There's a lot of things going on in the world right now. Lots of shootings and I was worried something like that could happen."

No further information has been released at this time.

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