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Winchester Police are still investigating several fights that broke out during the final hours of the En Ka Fair on Saturday night.
Lt. Ed Donohue said detail officers responded to between two to three incidents between 8:10 and 8:30 p.m. on May 18. Some calls, he said, were inside the actual fair while some were outside in the area of the high school on Skillings Road.
“Most of the kids were juveniles,” Donohue said. “There’s been some chatter that there were knives or guns involved. As of now, we know there were no guns and no knives. There were no weapons of any kind.”
Donohue said all the parties seemed to be in their early teens to 18. Most of the kids involved who have been identified, he added, were not from Winchester.
Donohue said the fair was closed down around 9 p.m. after police spoke with the En Ka Society about getting fairgoers safely on their way.
“Our main goal was to get everyone home safely,” he said.
No one from En Ka Society could be reached for comment on Sunday afternoon.
Donahue said these types of things don’t happen often, but juveniles do get up to “juvenile behavior.” He added police are still looking into whether or not this was some sort of meet up for this type of behavior.
As of now, Donohue said there’s no evidence of that and police are still investigating.
Eyewitnesses at the fair
Winchester residents took to the resident Facebook page Sunday morning to talk about what happened and what they had seen.
One resident described the scene as “mayhem” and added “clearly one can no longer feel safe or send their kids at night.”
One contributor said the situation was “scary” and that she and her family were right next to the first fight, which was broken up quickly. She said she had almost been knocked over and there were groups of kids running to the fights.
Some residents said their children were caught up in the chaos and were upset and shaken by what had happened.
“It was a scary & sad experience for our first fair,” one resident commented. “We did have a great time before the fights though.”
Other fair fights
While police investigate and residents question what happened at the fair, some pointed out this is just the latest incident of fights at local carnivals.
On April 19, there was a large fight at Weymouth High School during a carnival put on by Fiesta Shows. At that fight, an 18-year-old Brockton teen and a juvenile from Weymouth were arrested for starting the brawl that sent fairgoers scrambling.
The incident resulted in Fiesta Shows instituting a new policy for future carnivalgoers. From now on, minors 13-17 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older. The chaperone can only accompany four minors and must remain with them at all times during the event.
Whether or not Rockwell Amusements — the Scituate, R.I. company that puts on the En Ka Fair — will take on the same policy has yet to be seen. No one was answering phones at the company as of Sunday afternoon, May 19.
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