Fight at Cahokia High School has community on edge

A fight that took place at Cahokia High School on Wednesday inspired different interpretations of the events and put the community on edge on Thursday.

Two boys got into a fight Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the school, Cahokia Police Chief David Landmann said. The fight grew until school security arrived, and then everyone broke up.

Joey Fletcher of Caseyville said three of her children were involved in the fight, starting first with one of her sons, then a second, and then her daughter, who was also hit.

The fight was gang-related, Fletcher said: A gang wanted her sons to join, but they didn’t want to, so gang members attacked them. She said one of her sons did not fight back because he was on probation and was worried about the legal consequences of defending himself.

About six students were identified as having participated in the fight, according to Cahokia District 187 Superintendent Art Ryan.

Video of the fight circulated on social media. The clip showed many students were involved, but it was hard to tell who was fighting and who was trying to stop it, Ryan said.

After the fight, Fletcher and her family returned home, where police visited them, Fletcher said. She mentioned that her sons were still shaken from the fight.

Fletcher wrote on Facebook about her sons’ anger, but she took down the posts after several distasteful and fearful comments appeared.

Michelle Young, who said she has a ninth-grader at Cahokia High School, saw the posts, which she interpreted to mean that Fletcher’s sons were threatening students at the school.

Young was upset that parents weren’t warned about the threat.

“We tried to let the school handle that side of it,” Police Chief Landmann said, though, he added, the police gave advice to the school on what to do.

Superintendant Ryan said he wanted to confirm the threat’s credibility before informing parents.

“Before the district wants to send out a robocall... we want to make sure we know what we’re talking about,” he said.

Ryan said the school district would probably robocall parents about the fight on Thursday.

Cahokia police provided extra security to the school and used metal detectors on students on Thursday, Landmann said.

As of Thursday afternoon, the fight was still under investigation, Landmann said. At that time, police had not found a credible threat against the school.

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Fight at Cahokia High School has community on edge."