A years-long dispute between two families erupted during an Ohio wedding celebration, setting off a large fight that injured guests, brought in officers from multiple police agencies and resulted in three arrests.
According to FOX 8 in Cleveland, Ali Wahdan, 47, Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman, 46, and Abdallah Wahdan, 48, were taken into custody following the Aug. 21 clash at La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake.
Sulaiman, a resident of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, faces charges of assault, inducing panic and tampering with evidence after police said he threatened wedding guests with a butter knife and threw it away when officers arrived.
Ali Wahdan was charged with violating a temporary protection order. Abdallah Wahdan, of Westlake, was charged with aggravated menacing after authorities said he threatened other people at the event.
Surveillance video captured the confrontation outside La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, where police said long-simmering friction between two families exploded during a wedding reception. (Westlake Police Department)
News Outlet obtained 911 recordings, police body camera footage and additional video that traced the chaos from inside the banquet hall to the parking lot outside.
“There’s a fight at our venue,” the venue’s general manager told a 911 dispatcher, reporting that “a bunch of people” were fighting both indoors and outside the building.
“Someone’s bleeding,” he said, explaining that a man with a head injury was in a bathroom while the confrontation was still underway.
Body camera footage shows a wedding guest speaking with police outside La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, after a brawl broke out during an Aug. 21 wedding celebration. (Westlake Police Department)
When asked what was behind the brawl, the manager said it involved relatives.
Another 911 call captured shouting in the background, while a separate caller pleaded for police and said he had been attacked.
“Somebody started beating me,” the caller said.
Dashcam footage from the night of Aug. 21 shows an officer arriving at the venue to find a crowded parking lot filled with vehicles and people dressed for the wedding. As the response grew, Westlake police called for additional officers and requested help from neighboring departments.
Dashcam footage shows a crowd gathered outside La Centre Banquet Facility as police arrive to break up a brawl during an Aug. 21 wedding celebration in Westlake, Ohio. (Westlake Police Department)
Body camera footage shows officers moving through the crowd and trying to keep groups separated as guests poured out of the venue.
One man approached an officer to make a police report and said his group had been attacked while dancing.
“We were dancing, and four brothers jumped on us,” he told police during the encounter captured on the officer’s body camera.
Cellphone video shows guests inside La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, as a brawl broke out during an Aug. 21 wedding celebration. (Westlake Police Department)
Cellphone video from inside the ballroom captured another part of the brawl as screams broke out among guests. A man in a suit, identified by police as Sulaiman, held what appeared to be a butter knife as several men rushed toward him and struggled to restrain him.
Chairs were knocked over as nearby guests moved away from the confrontation.
Paramedics were called to treat injured guests as officers worked to bring the scene under control.
Police Capt. Jerry Vogel told FOX 8 that officers knew people had already been injured but did not initially know whether anyone had a weapon.
Once the groups were separated, investigators began piecing together what sparked the fight. Police said alcohol was not a factor and instead pointed to longstanding bad blood between the two families.
Investigators said Ali Wahdan was subject to a temporary protection order involving members of a family at the wedding and was required to leave when he encountered them.
“Under the law, if you see this person, even if you’re there accidentally at the same time, you have to leave,” Vogel said. “It is your responsibility to leave.”
Police said Wahdan instead remained at the venue, allegedly helping set the confrontation in motion.
Despite the brawl, injuries and three arrests, the wedding was not over. Once officers restored order, the celebration resumed without further trouble.
The charges against the three men were filed in Rocky River Municipal Court.
