Alleged gang rivalries erupted in gunfire Sunday night outside a church where mourners gathered to honor 17-year-old Joshua Broussard, the victim fatally stabbed at Spring High School.
Witnesses say that reported members of the Brown Pride gang were escorted from Spring Baptist Church during the service. Moments later, a brawl involving as many as 40 people broke out in the parking lot. At least eight shots were fired.
“Everyone just got into a panic attack and started running," Taylor Harris, a friend of Broussard, tells KHOU Ch. 11. "Everybody was falling, trying to duck, because somebody said they saw a gun."
Metal detectors and additional police security are in place at Spring High School.
While no injuries or arrests were reported, fears of gang-related tension between African-American and Latino students continue to rise throughout the area. Metal detectors and additional police security are in place at Spring High School as of Monday.
Following the arrest of 17-year-old suspect Luis Alonzo Alfaro — who remains in jail, facing a $140,000 bail according to public records — the Harris County Sheriff's Office issued a statement saying it believed the school stabbing was sparked by gang rivalries.
After the tragic incident, some parents expressed their concerns about rumored tensions between rival gangs Brown Pride and the Cool Rock Nation. Unconfirmed reports from a Spring High School staffer, however, suggest that Alfaro had no affiliation with the Brown Pride gang, and label the student suspect a "wanna-be."
Both the suspect's lawyers and the Harris County District Attorneys Office are unwilling to label the incident "gang-related" without solid evidence, according to the Chronicle.
The Broussard family claims that Joshua feared for his safety at school after getting into a fight with a fellow student days before his death. Broussard's father tells reporters his son had never been involved in gang activity.
Watch the full KHOU Ch. 11 report on the Sunday melee:
Shots were fired outside Spring Baptist Church during a memorial service for slain student Joshua Broussard.
