Source – Five teenagers were arrested when a 600-person brawl broke out in a Florida movie theater’s parking lot on Christmas night.

Described by police as a “melee,” the fight occurred around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday outside the Hollywood River City 14 movie theater in Jacksonville when a group tried to storm the theater’s doors without purchasing tickets, police said. Several had rushed an off-duty police officer working as a security guard.

The officer “administered pepper spray to disperse the group, locked the doors and called for backup, following protocol,” said Lauri-Ellen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Soon after the pepper spray was used, “upward of 600 people moving throughout a parking lot about the size of a football field began fighting, disrupting and jumping on cars,” she said.

Sixty-two police officers were called to the scene to break up the brawl, “sequestering them and separating them,” Smith said.

Only minor injuries and damage to property were reported. No gunshots were fired, according to Smith.

All five of the people arrested on the scene were charged with crimes related to fighting. Three of those arrested, including one minor, were charged with felonies. Two other juveniles, who have not been named by police, were charged with misdemeanors.

Tevyn Alonza Davis, 19, was charged with resisting arrest and breach of the peace. Jaquade Marquis Miller, 18, was charged with fighting and resisting arrest. Khalil Ahmad Bradley, 17, the only minor charged with a felony, was arrested for resisting arrest, refusal to disperse and breach of the peace.

Davis and Bradley each “took a fighting stance” when confronted by police and told to leave the area, according to arrest reports. Miller, too, “took an aggressive stance” when told by police to leave the parking lot.

According to the movie theater’s website, the cinema was showing “Tyler Perry’s A Medea Christmas,” “47 Ronin,” “Grudge Match,” “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” along with several other movies.

Oh Florida. There are just so many aspects to this story that I love. Teenagers storming movie theater doors so they wouldn’t have to pay for a ticket. Kids fighting cops. 600 people who have nothing better to do on Christmas night than fight in a movie theater parking lot. My question is what were the people storming the movie theater doors going to do if they actually got past security? Did they think they would be able to just watch Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas? Did they think security was just going to tip their hat and let them walk out of there? Poor planning on their part. Everyone knows you have to utilize the 3 for 1 special. You suck it up and pay for one movie, then hop from theater to theater to watch the other two. Not in Florida. In Florida you storm the movie theater and start a massive brawl. I had a feeling we’d hear from the craziest state in the world before the new year, and they did not disappoint. Beethoven had symphony 9. Florida now has their Christmas brawl.

– Ryan