Woman Arrested For Alleged Stun Gun Attack At Great America Halloween Haunt

UPDATE: 11/2/2017 12:39 p.m. CBS SF– A woman suspected of using a stun gun on a teenage girl at California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara during a violent melee last Saturday night has been arrested, according to police.

Leticia Saxton, 44, of El Sobrante was arrested Wednesday in Hayward on assault and other felony charges, Santa Clara police said.

The incident happened at the Halloween Haunt event at Great America where dozens of brawling teenagers swarmed through the park, with a number of park patrons getting assaulted and robbed.

Police said Saxton allegedly broke up some sort of confrontation between her teenage daughter and the victim by using the stun gun on the other teen.

The stun gun was somehow brought into the park despite the use of metal detectors at the entrance, police said.

The arrest was the third following the outbreak of violence at the park that night. One juvenile was arrested for theft and another was arrested for public intoxication.

There were more than a dozen reported thefts during the evening and four assaults, police said. Some park patrons said it appeared security guards at Great America were overwhelmed.

Santa Clara Police said detectives were working to find additional suspects.

PREVIOUS STORY:

CBS SF- Security at California’s Great America was beefed up Sunday evening, the night after as many as 100 teens got into fights and allegedly stole cell phones at the amusement park’s haunted house attraction.

The disturbances happened at Great America’s Halloween Haunt, the annual haunted house set up on the park for the holiday.

Park patron Noe Bracamontes posted video of the fight on Snapchat live Saturday evening. At first, two girls can be seen throwing punches. Then a zapping sound is heard.

Bracamontes is pretty sure it was a Taser.

“We heard it and I was like, ‘Is that what I think it is?’ She just started like, Tasing the girl. Almost like stabbing her in a way,” said Bracamontes. “It was chaotic. It was hectic.”

Saturday night at Great America’s Halloween Haunt turned ugly after witnesses said groups of young teenagers crowded into the park and got into a series of fights for no apparent reason.

As one fight started between teens, other teens would swarm around to shoot video, which seemed to encourage more fights.

“Like, ‘Oh, he looked at me weird.’ Or ‘She’s looking at me weird,'” explained Bracamontes. “Somebody bumps into somebody. There’s a lot of people there. Some might take it as disrespectful.”

Santa Clara police said as many as 100 young people were involved in the fights. Some customers sustained minor injuries. Others reported their cell phones were stolen.

Santa Clara police report they made two arrests. One juvenile was taken into custody for theft, while another person was arrested for public intoxication.

A spokesman for Great America reported there was an incident that required police to be called and insisted the park did not evacuate or close early.

However, one employee told KPIX 5 off camera that once Santa Clara police officers arrived, they started ushering customers and some employees out of the park just after midnight, an hour before the parks scheduled 1 a.m. closing time Saturday evening.

Sunday night, Santa Clara police stepped up patrols in the area. But on Saturday, Bracamontes said the security guards were seriously outnumbered, so the ones he saw did little to intercede.

“They didn’t really do anything. I’m pretty sure they were overwhelmed,” said Bracamontes.