The two- or three-year-old feud apparently prompted a fight earlier in the day at a high school, after a window was shot out of a home Sunday night. Then, “all hell broke loose” later in the day, said Sgt. Carlton Hogue of the Perry County Sheriff’s Department.
“It was a full-scale riot is what it was,” said Tony Long, mayor of the town of 3,300 about 85 miles west of Montgomery.
Hogue said the rioters were “throwing jack irons, throwing tire irons, anything they could get their hands on.” Some people carried baseball bats and brooms.
Reese said two people were arrested at the high school during the initial disturbance. Relatives of the people who were arrested followed officers to police headquarters at city hall, and then the melee erupted.
Six more people were arrested at city hall, Reese said, and police called in reinforcements from surrounding cities. Some officers wore riot gear, and many planned to stay overnight to help maintain order.
The mayor said he wasn’t sure what sparked the fracas.
“Everybody’s trying to point the finger at everybody,” he said.
Judson College, a church-affiliated women’s school with about 300 students in downtown Marion, issued an alert asking students to stay out of the downtown area for 24 hours as a precaution.
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Over the years, many people have doubted some of the southern stories I tell. Hopefully, the above will put those doubts to rest.
I do have one question: How in the world can 150 angry Southerners get in a fight and not one of them has a gun?
