JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A crowd of people was sprayed with what witnesses described as “Mace” during a fight on Memorial Day in Jacksonville Beach, police said.
Witnesses said the fight happened Monday evening outside a hotel along 2nd Avenue North in the Jacksonville Beach Town Center area.
According to a Jacksonville Beach Police incident report, around 6:30 p.m. Monday about 30 to 40 people were spotted by an officer yelling and screaming in a parking garage near a Best Western.
When the officer approached the large group, he said several people “appeared to be in physical distress,” and witnesses told the officer that a woman had sprayed something like pepper spray into the crowd.
The spray hit the crowd of bystanders, many of whom were teenagers, and officers provided water and paper towels and directed people to a nearby rinse-off station to flush their eyes, the report said.
Eyewitness Frank Barlow said he was among those affected by the spray.
“Next thing I know, there are people getting drug on the ground, stomped, kicked, moms are dragging their children out of the way, you know, terror,” Barlow said. “And then that mist came and got me and the dog.”
Barlow said the fight appeared to slow down and then start again. He said one person pulled out what he described as a can of bear mace and sprayed someone in the face.
The JBPD incident report included three victims -- two females and one male -- with severe eye irritation and coughing. The man’s nose was also bleeding, the report said. Officers were unable to determine how the nose injury occurred.
A witness later told police she took a photograph of a woman she said sprayed the crowd. That woman has not been publicly identified by police.
Barlow also captured a photo of the incident, which he shared with News4JAX.
Residents also posted concerns on social media about holiday crowds and violence at the beach.
Jacksonville Beach police said the investigation is ongoing, but witnesses have not been cooperating with investigators.
Anyone who recognizes people in the photo of the fight or has information about the incident is asked to contact the Jacksonville Beach Police Department at 904-270-1667.