HAMPTON, Va. (WVEC) -- A big fight broke out at the Hampton Coliseum during a high school graduation on Saturday.
One witness tells 13News Now this was the graduation for Phoebus High School.
"It was basically three fights," said Debbi Daye, who couldn't believe her eyes. She went to Hampton Coliseum to see her nephew graduate from Phoebus High. After the ceremony, several fights broke out in the parking lot.
She was disgusted because as far as she knows, she and her brother were the only ones who tried to break up the fight. She said some adults egged on the fights and even took time to record them on their phones.
Daye said she grabbed one girl who was fighting.
"I just kept holding her and praying, and I said, 'I can't let you go.' She said, 'Let me go,' [and I replied] 'You don't want to do this, you don't want to do this.' And finally I said, 'Where is your mother?' Her mother was standing right there."
Daye said continues to cry thinking about the fights, and she worries this won't be the end of the violence.
"Twelve years [in grade school], you don't know what these other students did to get there to this very moment... this very moment to walk across the stage, parents celebrating... and they forever tainted that moment. It's forever tainted for foolishness."
Hampton Police said they are investigating the fight, and plan to charge the people involved once officers identify the suspects. They ask that if anyone has information about the fights, to call the Crime Line at 1–888-LOCK-U-UP.