PA. Lebanon southeast playground brawl led to gunfire

More details are emerging about last week’s brawl that led to gunfire at a Lebanon playground.

The Oct. 5 fight at Southeast Park was a prearranged confrontation between two people that escalated.

In the initial aftermath, police were told that the fight had occurred over a dispute in a basketball game.

On Monday, Mayor Sherry Capello ordered the basketball rims removed from the courts temporarily as a way of cooling down the situation and sending a message that violence on the playground will not be tolerated.

Neighbors of the playground said as many as 50 people were involved in the melee.

Investigators, however, are not clear precisely how many were fighting and how many were just there to watch the brawl, Wright said.

Most of the participants looked to be between 14 and 16 years old, neighbors said.

They included a 16-year-old boy who has been charged with firing a stolen handgun into the air in the midst of the melee and a 15-year-old boy who was taken to an area hospital after being beaten bloody with a baseball bat, police said.

Cars full of people, including some adults, showed up at the playground shortly before the fight started at 6 p.m. “Car after car just started to pull up, and tons of kids piled out,” said Stacy Stankard.

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