HOUSTON – A video posted on Facebook purporting to show a fight between women over a parking space at the Houston Zoo is going viral.
Houston police said they received the disturbance call around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, a day called Free Afternoon in which Zoo admission is free.
Several women were involved and punches were thrown. At one point, a woman with a stroller runs up. Her little girl witnessed the entire thing.
Linda Padilla witnessed the fight and recorded it on her cell phone.
"That lady was not gonna to have it. She was like, 'that's my spot and I'm standing here to guard it for the rest of the family," Padilla said.
Padilla came to the zoo with her husband, in hopes of cheering herself up after losing her job. She says even though the parking lot was packed, she never expected to see people throwing punches. “I think I saw more action out in the parking lot than with the animals,” Padilla said. “The animals were just chilling.”
The video has more than 100,000 views in just one day.
People who saw the video didn't know what to say.
"That's just ridiculous. You don't do that. What are you showing your kids?" Gina Lopez said.
"It's ridiculous. We want to bring our children to the Houston Zoo and we have people fighting over parking spots," Anthony Lopez said.
"Everybody is screaming. It's over a parking spot. Just move along or just move out of the way. Let the lady park," Padilla said. "I think I saw more action in the parking lot than the animals. The animals were just chillin'"
People are also commenting online, with one person writing, "Keep that mess away from family places."
Another person blamed the lack of available parking spaces, saying "it was only a matter of time before something like this happened."
According to the Houston Police Department, so far none of the parties involved have filed any charges.
A spokesperson for the Houston Zoo said in a statement, "While the parking lot outside the Houston Zoo front entrance is not owned or managed by the zoo, we were disappointed to see the behavior displayed by the adults in the video. The safety and security of our guests is our priority and we work diligently with our staff and HPD to ensure visitors to the Houston Zoo are safe."
What do you think? Sound off on the KPRC2 Facebook page.