Brawl mars weekend basketball tournament at Henrico Sports and Events Center

A brawl broke out at the Henrico Sports and Events Center during a basketball game June 6, leaving at least two people – a referee and a player – with minor injuries.

The fight occurred during the closing seconds of a game in the Teammate Basketball Virginia State Championships, an event that featured 156 teams from throughout the state. The fight primarily involved two coaches, two referees and a juvenile male player, according to Henrico Police. The team involved was from Fairfax, according to a Henrico official.

With play stopped and the score 36-34 with 12.1 seconds left in the game, video showed a group of players, coaches and referees standing in close proximity before a man, believed to be a coach, violently pushed the side of one referee's head, knocking him sideways toward the ground. As the group of people separately slightly, the man then threw a punch at another referee but missed and fell to the ground.

The coach, according to onlookers, was upset that a foul had not been called against the opposing team.

The first referee struggled to gain his composure and defend himself, but a male wearing a white shirt immediately grabbed him from behind and attempted to restrain him. The referee ran toward the coach who had just fallen, landing on top of him, at which time the male in the white shirt lunged at the referee from behind, punching him in near the back of his head.

As those two wrestled on the ground, a male wearing a black shirt ran toward the second referee and began throwing punches at him. Most of those appeared to miss but they caused the referee to fall to the ground. Another male wearing a white shirt then entered the mix and appeared to throw several punches toward one of the referees, both of whom were on the ground at the time.

A handful of people became involved in the fracas, attempting to break it up, before two other referees came and helped separate the crowd.

One referee suffered minor injuries to the face, and a teen player also received minor injuries, police told the Citizen, but both declined medical treatment.

Both coaches and referees were removed from the facility, and police continue to investigate the incident.

WRIC reported Monday that Teammate Basketball had permanently banned one of the coaches from its events.

Four off-duty police officers were working security at the tournament, in addition to other security officials who were present at the time, according to a Henrico official.