10 charged with rioting after brawl in Nashua, NH – Boston News, Weather, Sports

Ten people are being charged after a fight last month after a basketball game between Nashua North High School and Manchester Memorial High School, local officials said.

The fight took place on February 7, with video at the time capturing the game’s participants running, screaming and fighting in the parking lot in front of Nashua North’s gym.

School officials and police said they immediately launched an investigation

This week, Nashua Alderman and parent Alex Comeau said he heard about the brawl and wanted to make sure it wasn’t dismissed as “kids are kids.”

“That’s more than two kids agreeing to meet at the playground at three o’clock, which is what happened when we were kids,” Comeau said. “This was serious and this could have gotten really bad.”

“It’s scary,” Comeau continued. “It’s close to home for me and I don’t want it to happen to anyone.”

Nashua Police Lieutenant Peter Urban said officials believe the fight stemmed from an incident in Manchester a week earlier. Nashua students, Urban said, were plotting retaliation against Manchester students.

Police said they looked at several cell phone videos as well as surveillance cameras at the school. Police said they also spoke to witnesses to identify the people involved.

A month later, officials announced that they had arrested 10 people. Of these, eight are current students and two are former students. All are charged with rioting, according to police.

In a statement, the Manchester headmaster thanked investigators.

“We continue to prioritize the safety of students, families, staff and spectators at sporting events,” added Superintendent Jennifer Gillis.

The sentiment is shared by the Nashua school’s athletic department, which is now limiting spectator capacity and adding an extra police presence at most of its sporting events, although none of the people involved in this latest incident were student athletes.

“It’s just a shame that they choose something as positive as education-based athletics for our students and our fans and for our community and cast such a negative light on what athletics is about,” said athletics director Lisa Gingras.

Nobody was seriously injured in this incident.

Officials said the Nashua School District is also working to discipline its students involved.