A wedding celebration in Ohio took a violent turn.
Police say a reception erupted into mayhem after a group of brothers showed up uninvited and allegedly assaulted a guest, igniting a brawl between two families with a troubled history.
The confrontation broke out around 8:50 p.m. Friday at La Centre Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, about 14 miles west of Cleveland.
“We were dancing and four brothers jumped on us,” one alleged victim told officers, according to video obtained by Fox8 Cleveland and KHOU.
What had been a lively wedding reception quickly turned into panic as guests screamed and scattered. One of the men, identified as Raed Mahmoud Sulaiman, allegedly grabbed a butter knife from a table setting and began going after others.
Police video shows the suspect holding the utensil as music continued playing inside the banquet hall, with guests moving frantically amid the chaos.
“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.
At one point, an attendee picked up a chair and hurled it toward 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.”
