Neighbors shocked by large fight in Riverside sparked by texting

RIVERSIDE — People in one Riverside neighborhood say they’re shocked by the chaos that broke out Monday night so close to home.

News Center 7's Kayla Courvell talked with neighbors about the turmoil that involved a gun.

“It’s a quiet neighborhood,” Terry Babb said. “Usually we don’t have any issues at all.”

Riverside police say there were six to seven people fighting at the intersection of Fourth Street and Mertland Avenue.

“It was pretty chaotic at the beginning,” Riverside police Sgt. Mike Safried said.

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A woman trying to break up the fight showed up with a gun.

“It was a fight over teens and young adults texting each other back and forth,” Safried said.

Dayton police also responded to the large fight because Riverside officers didn’t know whether multiple guns were involved or shots had been fired, the sergeant said.

The woman who brought the gun first ran from police, but police found that she had a CCW permit and the gun was not loaded. Also, because she did not threaten anyone with the gun, she was not charged.

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“It was a mom that was trying to protect kids … but when you have seven, eight kids fighting, I would rather them be fistfighting,” Babb said.

Four adults were arrested and two juveniles were cited for their roles in the fight, and no one was seriously injured.