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Riot Breaks Out In West Virginia After WVU Win Against Baylor, ‘Chemical Munitions’ Used To Control Crowds

By Tara West
Published on: 05:43 PST, Oct 19, 2014

Police are assessing the damage after a riot broke out following a WVU win against Baylor on Saturday night.

Local news station WOWK reports that police in Morgantown responded to a riot that broke out following Saturday’s football game against Baylor. Police say celebratory parties in several neighborhoods quickly turned into riots. Fires were set throughout the Sunnyside community as well as other parts of the city before 10:30 p.m. Crowds pushed over street lights along High Street, doing thousands of dollars worth of damage, and threw rocks and beer bottles at police, according to a news release.

Police say they could not get the crowds under control initially, so they had to seek alternative methods of controlling the crowd, including the use of pepper spray and what they are calling “chemical munitions” to control the rioters and bring calm to the situation. Neighboring police departments were also called in to provide mutual aid. Police did make several arrests during the riots, but the names of those arrested and their charges have not been released to the press as of the time of this posting.

Police say they are still trying to determine exactly how much damage was to done to campus and city property. Police are now assessing the full extent of the damage this morning.

People have already taken to social media to share some photos from the WVU riot, including this one that shows a person placing a stop sign into a large fire.

Another image shows a large crowd gathered around a fire burning unknown objects.

One Twitter user uploaded this picture that shows a large group making its way down the street.

One user uploaded a photo to ChatSports that showed people burning couches in a large fire following the big win.

Image uploaded to ChatSport
Image uploaded to ChatSport

This was the second riot at a U.S. college in one day. Students at Keene State in New Hampshire started a riot earlier in the day when things got out-of-hand at the annual Pumpkin Festival.

Do you think the second riot at WVU was inspired in part by what was happening at Keene State during the same time?

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