A celebration of the New York Knicks historic NBA Finals win turned into fiery chaos on Saturday night in New York City’s Times Square.
Wild revelers targeted several school buses and some of them lit clothing on fire and threw it inside a bus while others tore the buses apart, the New York Post reported Sunday.
One person at the scene shouted, “I’m scared for my homies!” while someone else said, “You know our tax-payer dollars go to public schools, right?”
Video footage showed people taking turns beating the front of a yellow school bus with a scooter as the crowd watched and as some of them perched on top of the bus. The crowd eventually opened the vehicle’s hood.
“This is coming out of my paycheck!” a man who appeared to be the bus driver said while trying to protect the bus from the rioters:
Reuters reported that some of the vehicles targeted were World Cup buses.
“As the celebrations ran into the night, hundreds of mostly young people swarmed a convoy of about 15 shuttle buses in Times Square after they transported soccer fans from the first World Cup game in the New York City area between Brazil and Morocco, which ended in a draw,” the outlet said.
The chaos broke out after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio, Texas, the first time in 53 years, according to Breitbart News.
Another video from Nick Sortor showed a school bus engulfed in flames and firefighters at the scene trying to put out the blaze:
More clips showed other views of the chaos that also included what appeared to be fireworks:
A 17-year-old was shot in the foot during the violent celebrations near 42nd Street and Broadway, and he was transported to a hospital in stable condition, Fox News reported.
“Police said three persons of interest were taken into custody and a firearm was recovered at the scene,” the outlet noted, adding there was a large police presence around Madison Square Garden.
Despite leaders asking people to be responsible while celebrating, it seemed all hell broke loose. A police spokesperson told Fox law enforcement was expected to update the number arrests later on Sunday.