Here comes the crime…
An Ohio wedding descended into chaos when a band of brothers crashed the reception and allegedly attacked a reveler, sparking a chaotic brawl between two families with bad blood.
The holy smash-rimony between guests and the unwanted attendees went down at around 8:50 p.m. Friday inside the La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, 14 miles west of Cleveland.
“We were dancing and four brothers jumped on us,” an alleged victim told cops, according to video obtained by Fox8 Cleveland and KHOU.
The jovial celebration became a scream-fest as wedding-goers panicked when one of the men, identified as Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman, armed himself with a butter knife he found on a place setting and began attacking others.
The hot-crossed guest grabbed the eating utensil mainly used for buttery buns and charged at guests as music blared in the banquet hall, according to video released by police.
“We knew violence already happened from independent witnesses who called us, who said people were bloody, so we know there’s already violence going on,” Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel said, according to the outlet.
One attendee picked up a chair and tossed it towards the armed suspect.
Dozens of panicked partiers rushed out of the hall and into the parking lot where arriving police officers met with at least 40 frantic people.
The pent-up victim, still fixing his pants from the attack, pointed at the alleged assailants.
Dozens of partiers raced out the door into the parking lot to escape the melee.
Officials revealed two families, known for being hostile towards each other, were responsible for interrupting the otherwise peaceful celebration.
It was not known if the feuding relatives were related or if it was a Romeo and Juliet-type beef with hostilities crossing the aisle.
“People who don’t normally get together and have hostilities against each other got together for whatever reason,” Vogel said. “In this case, it was somebody’s wedding. I don’t know all the relationships that were involved but when they got together, everything came back to the surface.”
Sulaiman, 46, was arrested and charged with assault, inducing panic and tampering with evidence.
He allegedly discarded the butter knife before police arrived at the scene, the outlet reported.
“He took it one step further and brandished an actual butter knife from a place setting evidently and was threatening people with the butter knife,” Vogel said.
Two other men, who officials called “bad apples,” were also charged for their roles in the brawl.
Ali Wahdan, 47, faces charges for violating a court order that protected family members attending the wedding.
Abdallah Wahdan, 48, is accused of threatening to harm several guests and was charged with aggravated menacing.
Officials called out future party poopers, warning them to stay away on a couple’s big day.
“Don’t spoil someone else’s wedding,” said Vogel. “Now those people are unfortunately are always going to be remembered as the wedding where there was a melee and fights involved. They’re not going to remember the good parts of it. They’re going to remember the bad parts.”
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