Opening Day is a celebration in many cities for baseball fans. It marks the beginning of a new Major League Baseball season and the dream of taking home a pennant. Plenty of fans play hooky for the home opener, and crowds fill the stands ready to enjoy an afternoon of America’s favorite pastime. As a sport, baseball is relatively tame, but fans can get rowdy, which can lead to dangerous circumstances. On March 26, 2026, a 13-year-old girl was brutally beaten at Washington Park on the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day. The worst part is that it was all caught on video.
Family claims the attack came out of nowhere.
The teenager’s aunt, who wished to remain anonymous, told WCPO her niece could have died. A group of girls allegedly came up behind her and began to punch, kick, and beat her mercilessly.
“They could have really killed her,” the woman told WCPO. “Every time I hear it — I don’t have to look at the video, I just hear it — and I want to cry.”
The girl was reportedly alone, and the other group of girls began to antagonize her, the aunt explained. The aunt said someone took the girl’s purse, and when she asked the police for help, they allegedly told her to call her parents.
The teen’s family took her to the hospital.
The aunt said the teenager was sprayed with mace and wound up at the hospital, where police met the family to take a report. “Her vision came back later, but she was swollen all over — her face, eyes, head. Her body was bruised. She’s only 13 and still has to get up and go to school. That’s hard,” her aunt added.
Ultimately, the group took off with the 13-year-old’s purse, a necklace, AirPods, and two phones.
But more than anything, the teenager lost a bit of herself.
“Her dignity, everything,” the aunt told WCPO. “They took it all.”
The video shocked loved ones.
One of the relatives of the victim, Sheila Nared, director of the Trauma Recovery Center in the West End, told WCPO she could not believe the violent attack she saw in the video. Knowing the victim made it even worse.
“You want to go to Opening Day when you’re 13, and when you get 21 you want to be like, ‘I remember I was at Opening Day at 13 and I seen this…'” Nared said, per the outlet. “You don’t want to say, ‘I got beat down at the last Opening Day.’”
Opening Day was a mess in Cincinnati.
Stampede from earlier in downtown Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/QMwnaiZxII
— Sam George (@s_george_1) March 27, 2026
Cincinnati Police Chief Adam Hennie confirmed 17 arrests on Opening Day, with individuals ranging in age from 14 to 50, WLWT reported. They face charges of disorderly conduct, possession of weapons while intoxicated, failure to comply, assault, and resisting arrest. It’s unclear if any of these arrests are connected to the 13-year-old’s attack.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval shared a statement about Opening Day obtained by WLWT. “It’s an outrage. This is exactly what causes fear and concern among our guests who come to support our urban core,” Pureval noted. “It’s the kind of behavior that forces us to look at and implement more severe crowd control restrictions in our Downtown.”
Why can’t we have anything fun without violence? Unruly individuals are ruining it all. That 13-year-old girl could have died, and so could many others in the street brawl. It’s time for people to put their heads back on their shoulders and get their priorities straight. A few bad apples are running it for everyone.
