COLUMBUS (AP) – Police say it took about 100 officers wielding pepper spray to break up several large fights broke that out at the funeral of a man with known gang ties at an East Side church Monday.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that police were called Monday to the area around First English Lutheran Church, where a funeral for Dametrious Edwards was being held.
Edwards, 28, had been found dead in a basement Sept. 13. Police haven’t said how he died.
Fights broke out behind the church and pepper spray was used to break up the melee, Sgt. Rich Weiner said. No shots were fired and no officers were hurt.
Weiner says it’s not unusual for gang-related funerals to draw attention from rivals because gang members are expected to be among the mourners.