St. Paul police have used video footage to identify five people involved in large chaotic fights that broke out during this year’s Cinco de Mayo festival.

Prosecutors recently charged three young men and two boys ages 16 and 17 with third-degree riot, a gross misdemeanor.

“The charges send a strong message: Fighting, using weapons and putting innocent bystanders at risk is not tolerated in St. Paul,” Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Wednesday. “The Cinco de Mayo celebration is a great event, and it’s too bad that a relatively small number of people decided to attempt to ruin it for everyone.”

The May 5 brawls happened in the area of Cesar Chavez and George streets. A dozen people were involved in a fight at 5:45 p.m., followed by another fight among 10 people about 6:10 p.m.

The video footage came from surveillance cameras in the area, videos that people posted on social media and officers’ body cameras, according to criminal complaints filed Friday against the three young men. Police reviewed images from before, during and after the fights to piece together their case.

The videos showed people in the area, including children, trying to get away from the fights. The “chaotic brawls” also spilled over into vendor tents, which temporarily disrupted sales, the complaints said.

Investigators identified two groups of people fighting — one affiliated with St. Paul’s East Side and the other the West Side, the complaints said.

The criminal complaints give the following account of the events of May 5:

Video of the first fight showed “volunteer ambassadors with the festival attempting to break up the melee,” officers arriving, the fight ending and people from both groups “dispersed into the startled crowd of people attending the festival.”

Police identified Richard Allen Holston, 19, of South St. Paul, as someone “throwing blows” at people in the other group. Titus Tiego McKnight-Richman, 19, of Maplewood was “standing and shouting” among people who were punching and kicking.

Shortly before the second fight began, surveillance footage showed Holston, McKnight-Richman and Ali Sami Ibrahim, 18, of Oakdale, along with juveniles, confront a group of unknown males.

Holston argued with one of the men and stepped toward him. The man punched him and they began to fight. Then, McKnight-Richman, Ibrahim and the juveniles also began to fight the group of males.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were warrants out for the arrests of Holston, McKnight-Richman and Ibrahim, who are also charged with disorderly conduct. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

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Suspect sends Rochester police suicidal messages, flees, dies causing head-on collision During the Cinco de Mayo festival, police also responded to several instances of shots-fired, but no injuries were reported in those instances.

Deb Schaber, St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation president, said they have hosted and continue to host planning meetings for next year’s Cinco festival.

“Safety is our top priority,” she said Wednesday.