EVERETT – A weekend “Battle of the Bands” at Mariner High School came close to real combat.
As many as 10 people got into a fight Friday night after a parent apparently became upset when his child’s band didn’t win, officials said.
The event was a benefit to send the school’s choir to a music festival in Los Angeles, said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman.
An off-duty Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy, hired for event security, responded to the fight, said Rebecca Hover, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
There were students and others involved with a large crowd watching. The deputy called for assistance, Hover said.
Officers from the Washington State Patrol and Mill Creek responded along with additional sheriff’s deputies.
Thing calmed down and there were no arrests, Hover said. No weapons were involved and the fight was not gang related.
Police have noted a recent increase in crime activity near the school.
A sheriff’s deputy was placed at Mariner High School late last year after a surge in gang activity.
On Friday, eight student bands played for an audience of about 300.
The battle off the stage didn’t put a damper on the evening’s festivities, Muntz said.
“It (the altercation) didn’t have any effect on the event at all,” he said.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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