Brawl breaks out at anger management assembly

[PHANTOM21]

WOODLAWN, Maryland (AP) -- A brawl broke out during an anger management assembly at a suburban high school.

Two people were arrested and 11 students were suspended after a shoving match escalated into a melee during Thursday's assembly.

Authorities said a confrontation between a student's mother and a group of girls who had been bothering her daughter turned into a shouting match, and led to pushing and hitting, before the crowd of 750 students erupted into "chaos," said C. Anthony Thompson, principal of Woodlawn High School.

The melee began as students on stage acted out peaceful ways to resolve conflict during the assembly was organized by Sheppard Pratt Health System.

"People were climbing over seats and started fighting about stupid stuff," said ninth-grader Melissa Parks.

"Unfortunately, that original incident at the assembly became the catalyst for other fights," said Douglas J. Neilson, a spokesman for Baltimore County schools.

It took about 15 minutes to defuse the situation, Thompson said.

The mother, who was not identified because she had not been brought before a commissioner, was to be charged with trespassing and disrupting school activities, said Officer Shawn Vinson, a spokesman for the police department.

The daughter, who was not identified because she is a minor, was to be charged with second-degree assault, he said.

Thompson said some of the suspended students might be recommended for expulsion.