Santa Clarita

Man Caught on Camera Fighting Teen Outside Valencia Coffee Shop

Deputies are searching for the man in the video.

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LA County Sheriff's deputies in Santa Clarita said they’re looking for a man seen on video fighting with a teenage boy outside a Valencia shopping plaza Tuesday.

The video is going viral, and it shows the adult fighting with a teenage boy in the parking lot of the Hanna Savannah coffee shop in Valencia.

While it's still unclear what led to the fight or what happened before the camera began rolling, and some of the teens who witnessed the fight describe what happened.

"The man tackled the kid into a car - they were like wrestling. I got to the corner and we were all screaming get off him!” Liam Costello, a 12-year-old witness, said.

The teens say the whole thing started outside the Circle K where students from Rio Norte Middle School routinely gather each day on their way home from school.

The teenagers say the man was upset that they were blocking the door to the convenience store.

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"Some random guy walks out the door telling us to back up and starts pushing up. We didn’t take that too lightly, a few of our friends were talking back to him," witness Sebastian Alvarado said. "He was saying he was going to beat us all up.”

The teens say the man followed one boy across the parking lot and attacked him.

"Some people were telling him to stop. A few people were kicking him lightly sort of - trying to get him to stop - eventually he got off," Cole Martin, a 12-year-old witness, said.

A spokesperson for the Santa Clarita station of the Sheriff's Department says deputies were called to the scene to interview the teenager, who was not seriously injured.

Investigators say the man had already left by the time they arrived, driving off in a silver Toyota Tacoma. They’re trying to identify him. 

Parents we spoke with say they hope he’ll be found soon.

"Very scary and sad to see something like happen. A grown man attacking an 8th grade child over who knows what! How could you be that unstable to snap like that?" Kristine Costello, parent of one of the witnesses, said.

Investigators ask that anyone who has information about this incident contact the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station.

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