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Some of the City of San Juan Capistrano’s Fourth of July festivities were cut short Tuesday night after deputies were called to breakup an unruly crowd at the Summer Carnival and Fireworks show, resulting in one minor’s arrest, according to authorities.
The minor, a male, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon (other than a gun) on an on-duty police officer and was booked into juvenile hall, said Sgt. Mike Woodroof, a spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
“The carnival had to be shut down and the deputies were assaulted with fireworks,” Woodroof said in an email on Wednesday, July 5. “Additional deputies were called into the area to keep the peace.”
The incident, Woodroof said, occurred at around 8:30 p.m.
Elaborating on the unruliness, Sgt. Frank Gonzalez on Thursday, July 6, explained that groups of minors engaged in fighting and began lighting off fireworks. Some of the fireworks, he said, went off toward crowds of carnival-goers and deputies.
Gonzalez said there were no reported injuries.
A second male minor was cited and released.
Assistant City Manager Matisse Reischl addressed the “challenges” the city experienced during the carnival.
“To protect public safety, our Chief of Police Services made the appropriate decision to shut down the carnival at approximately 8:30 p.m., two hours earlier than the scheduled closure,” Reischl said in an email Thursday, adding that the fireworks display, concert and mayor’s remarks occurred as planned.
“The City Council, City staff and Police Services are extremely disappointed that the reckless and illegal behavior of these juveniles resulted in an early end to the carnival festivities for the many San Juan Capistrano families enjoying the event,” Reischl said in the email.
“The issues were isolated to the carnival area and San Juan Capistrano Police Services did an outstanding job addressing the unwelcome behavior to allow the remainder of the event activities to continue.”
