Distressing footage captured at least 10 adults and children fighting during a Tennessee kindergarten graduation ceremony earlier this month, according to a report.
The chaos unfolded at Buckley Carpenter Elementary in Somerville, Tenn., on May 15, 2024, when tensions between two women in the crowd boiled over into violence, police told Fox 13 Memphis.
The adults, identified as Tyeisha Humphreys and Kierra Smith, were seen brawling down the gymnasium bleachers as witnesses tried to escape the madness.
Beyond the bleacher brawl, at least two other people on the basketball court exchanged several punches.
According to the outlet, Tyeisha Humphreys told police that she was attacked first while Smith insisted that her childhood acquaintance ignited the brawl.
Security video obtained by law enforcement allegedly showed Tyeisha Humphreys coming into the gym and taking a seat directly behind Smith.
Smith then reportedly moved away from her original seat and sat next to a father and his child, according to the outlet.
Investigators say Smith and the child then got into an argument, which allegedly led to the woman taking an aggressive stance, prompting Tyeisha Humphreys to run down the bleachers from several rows back and smack Smith from behind to start the fight.
Ronda Humphreys, the mother arrested in the fight, told Fox 13 that she was wrongfully arrested and saw her son was elbowed in the head by an adult during the melee.
“I got hysterical. The police called the ambulance,” she told the outlet. “They said he had a concussion and released him.”
One man, Dantavious Gilchrease, and a mother and daughter, Ronda and Tyeisha Humphreys, were arrested following the graduation melee. Gilchrease relationship with the Humphreys was not disclosed.
Gilchrease was arrested outside the school for allegedly telling Rhonda Humphreys he would “shoot her in the face,” the outlet reported.
Tyeisha Humphreys was charged with violating an order of protection, inciting a riot, and three counts of simple assault, the outlet reported.
The incident comes a week after a senior graduating from Hamilton High School in Memphis, Tenn., threw his diploma at another student, causing a fight to break out.
The brawl allegedly began after a security guard caught the senior allegedly throwing up gang signs at the other student and removed him from his seat at the Cannon Center.
As he was being escorted out, the video shows the teen throwing his diploma at the student he was allegedly flashing gang signs at.
That student then jumped over three rows of seats and chased after his attacker.
