A rap concert sponsored by a local radio station turned violent Wednesday after gang fights broke out between teenagers at the event, inciting riots that spilled beyond the West Side park and prompted nearly 100 police officers to respond. Police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino said several thousand people were at the 98.
5 sponsored concert, called Beat Team Bombucha and described on its Web site as San Antonio's biggest high school Spring Break party.
But the show at Rosedale Park, near West Martin Street and North General McMullen Drive, soon turned ugly.
About 7:30 p.
m., 14-year-old Latanya Velasco said, everybody starts throwing up their colors.
Velasco tried to flee the park with her friends but said the throng of people made it difficult.
At one point, she saw one man stab several others. Two girls got in a fight one was hit over the head with a rock.
It was scary, she said.
Every time (police) would stop one fight, another would break out, said Joseph Alvarez, 15. John Stephen, a 15-year-old with dark sunglasses and several silver chains, said the fight was about territory.
We were there first, he said, adding that other local gangs disputed that fact.
Park Police officers initially responded, but called for backup when they couldn't contain the crowd, Trevino said. West Side patrol officers and the entire Tactical Response Unit also made the scene.
Police shut down parts of General McMullen and flooded the area, including a nearby Peter Piper's Pizza where many teenagers had fled.
We were trying to disperse the crowd because they kept fighting, said Sgt. David Anderson with the Tactical Response Unit.
About 16 arrests were made, Trevino said, mostly for disorderly conduct and assault.
Police Tasered about six people.
EMS treated a few people for minor scrapes, including an Edgewood Independent School District police officer.
No one was seriously injured, to my knowledge, Trevino said.
But it was dangerous there at one point.
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