Moosic Brawl
Eight charged in Moosic brawl
MOOSIC — Eight juveniles were arrested following a Tuesday night brawl that involved approximately 50 people, Moosic police said.
Police from Moosic, Old Forge and Taylor responded to the incident, which occurred around 10:10 p.m. in the Kmart parking lot on Birney Avenue.
No one was seriously injured and more arrests are pending, Moosic police said.
"They kind of scattered when we got there," Moosic Police Officer Tom Jenkins said. "One juvenile was found to have a knife on him. Several juveniles were intoxicated."
Police are not releasing the names of the juveniles.
Officer Jenkins said the people remaining in the parking lot said the brawl began over a racial epithet at an area high school.
While Officer Jenkins said the investigation, so far, does not show gang involvement, at least one Moosic Officer said gang members were involved.
Moosic Police Officer John Chilleri, who is not involved in the investigation, said he has reason to believe the fight was between two local gangs, the JRBs, based in West Scranton, and the Heights Bad Boys, based in Moosic Heights.
"All I can tell you is that some of the individuals involved are affiliated with these gangs," Officer Chilleri said.
The JRB is a gang of loosely based fans of the rap group Insane Clown Posse.
The HBB, said Downtown Crime Watch president Esther Phillips, has been responsible for property damage and theft in Moosic Heights over the last four months.
"They leave their initials all over the place, and they're not afraid to tell people they're members of a gang," Ms. Phillips said.
Ms. Phillips, who lives in Moosic, said Moosic Heights Crime Watch believes Tuesday's fight is tied to a second incident from two weeks ago.
"It was over turf and drugs," she believes.
No there wasnt any gang relation to this. it wasnt over turf and drugs. and a kid from our school sopposivly called a girl in our school that was going out with a kid from another school a slut and it started.