Violence Erupts at Private Event Held at Fire Hall

Separate fights broke out early Saturday at a private party held at the , resulting in one person being stabbed and another being hit by a car, police said. One person was arrested.

At around 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 4, a fight broke out in a large crowd of people attending a birthday party at the fire hall and one adult male was stabbed, officials said.

The stabbing victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, according to fire department officials.

Unrelated to the stabbing, another fight erupted shortly afterward that resulted in an adult male being struck by a car, according to police. This victim was also transported to Shock Trauma with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

One person was arrested related to the vehicular assault, according to police. Details were not available.

Neighbors described a loud and chaotic scene at the VVFD fire hall. "There were people, yelling, screaming and fighting all over the neighborhood," one resident who lives nearby told Arbutus Patch.

The event at the fire hall was not sponsored by VVFD, but rented out to a private party by the fire department.

VVFD president-elect Sam Suter said he was at the fire hall Saturday night until trucks were dispatched for a fire call.

"When we left for the fire call it was a normal party," he said. "We came back and saw cop cars and ambos all over the place."

Fire halls and community centers are sometimes rented by promoters for "traveling clubs" that charge admission and serve liquor.

"They tell us it's a retirement party or a Sweet 16 party, and how are we supposed to know? Suter said. "We don't profile against anybody."

Suter said that the problem of violence at fire hall events has become more serious in the last three months, and will be a high priority when his term of office as president begins March 1.

"Promoters are banned from the hall," he said. "The new administration coming in is going to make some drastic changes, and hall rentals is top of the list."

The VVFD fire hall rents for $175 per hour with a four-hour minimum and a mandatory $100 clean-up fee. Renters are responsible for all damage and for providing their own security.

Previously, VVFD had allowed renters to hold events as late as 2 a.m. Suter said that going forward events will be required to end by midnight.

Violence at hall rentals in the area has been a problem in the past. Last November, a following an altercation at a party at the VVFD fire hall.

In 2007, two people were killed and three injured when gunfire erupted at a party at .

At private events held at the Odenton Volunteer Fire Department banquet hall, a man was stabbed to death in March 2005 and three people were injured when a guest opened fire with a shotgun in September of the same year.