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Last updated on Saturday, August 17, 2013
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for swinging the sledgehammer that injured two children during a neighborhood fight Wednesday evening on the city’s east side.
Tanya Spencer of RTV6 reports, two children were taken to the hospital after the fight which involved 20 to 30 people in the 2700 block of Priscilla Avenue. Neighbors said it all started months ago with a dispute between two families.
Detectives arrested Alfred Amos, 38, on Thursday evening on two preliminary felony charges of aggravated battery and battery, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.
Amos is believed to have thrown a sledgehammer that struck and critically injured an 8-year-old boy, police said.
"It was in the back of his head. When I seen it. It was a hole. It was... I really can't even talk about it, I'm gonna cry again," neighbor Grena Montgomery said.
Montgomery was still shaken from what she experienced at her apartment complex. She stayed with the bleeding 8-year-old boy until paramedics arrived.
"It was a sledgehammer. Twice. Whew, I couldn't really take it," Montgomery said.
A 12-year-old girl was also hit during the incident.
"The little girl, they said her teeth were out. She was just spitting up teeth," another witness said.
Police were still investigating exactly how the events played out, but neighbors said the event started as a dispute between two families, including the mother of the injured 8-year-old boy.
"It started because the mother wanted to fight her teenage daughters and it just got out of control from there. The mother brought the sledgehammer out to fight and was hitting people with it and it got taken from her. The boy wasn't hit deliberately, it was an accident. It was just thrown back into the crowd and that's how he got hit," one neighbor said.
Witnesses of the fight blamed the adults in the situation.
"It's ridiculous. Parents should have come to an agreement and said, 'Look, let's talk about this and we can sit down and talk about it and resolve it.' Instead parents were out here fighting too. How can you be out here fighting and your kids fighting too? It's ridiculous," Montgomery said.
The 8-year-old boy remained at Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition. The young boy still has a long road to recovery ahead of him, but was expected to survive.
The 12-year-old girl has since been released from the hospital.
Amos was being held at the Arrestee Processing Center for processing.
To read more on this story visit http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/large-neighborhood-fight-results-in-sledgehammer-injuries
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