Kendall Park roller rink fight escalates to gunplay Third incident in several months injures Trenton man By charles w. kim Staff Writer SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A fight at the Kendall Park Roller Skating Rink early Saturday morning led to shots being fired and a pedestrian being struck by a car. Residents in the area of the Route 27 business reported hearing gunshots from the rink at about 1 a.m. and called police. A witness told police that a white Lincoln was involved in the disturbance at the rink, according to police. Patrolmen Scott Reeves and Mike LaPoint spotted the vehicle and pulled it over seconds later on New Road by Route 1, according to police. While the officers questioned the occupants of the car, they observed what appeared to be a bullet hole by the trunk of the vehicle, according to police. The occupants of the car told police there were several fights inside the rink and that the rink’s security moved some of the group outside. A few of those involved in the first fight came back in, and a larger fight broke out. This time security forced all the people into the lot through several exits, police said. While conducting the traffic stop, personnel at Helene Fuld Medical Center of Trenton called police headquarters to report they were treating a man who had been struck by a car. The hospital said the patient claimed he had been hit in the parking lot of the rink by a white car. Officers questioned the driver of the Lincoln, Julius Thomas, 20, of Trenton, who police believe may have hit a pedestrian in the lot as he attempted to exit. The other passengers in the Lincoln told police that gunshots were being fired as they exited the lot and believed the shots were being directed at them. An examination of the parking lot found three spent .22-caliber shell casings, according to police. Rashard Dowdell, 19, of Trenton was identified as the pedestrian allegedly struck by a car. Dowdell suffered a broken leg as a result of the incident, according to police. Police were not able to recover a weapon or identify the alleged gunman Thomas was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving bodily injury and was lodged in the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, on $5,000 bail. It is the third time this year that violence has erupted at the skating rink. Police responded to fights at the rink twice before. According to police, the earlier fights were between groups of young people from Trenton and New Brunswick. In one of the incidents, police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd of about 800.