A new report over at CBS 6 looks deeper into the pepper spray incident that occurred during Turnstile‘s September 24th, 2025 show at Brown’s Island in Richmond, VA. That concert saw local police officers enlisted to assist with security at the event.
However, while the melodic hardcore band encouraged fans to join them onstage for the set-closing performance of “Birds“, one officer in attendance apparently felt the need to deter those attempting to do so.
In the below footage of the incident, the officer in question, can be seen raising his pepper spray cannister at one individual who managed to jump the barrier and make it to the stage. While he stopped short of spraying that concertgoer, he went on to turn around and pepper spray another individual attempting to get up on the stage in the face. Amid that chaos, bassist/vocalist Franz Lyons can also be seen defending a separate fan from security, who were attempting to pull the fan back down off the stage.
Following the incident, Richmond Sherriff Antionette Irving revealed that an investigation had been launched into the dispersal of the chemical agent, which as it turns out, was discharged in the face of a 15-year-old concertgoer. CBS 6 have obtained the bodycam footage of an officer who was in attendance at the concert per a public records request.
The teen in question is seen in the footage recalling the incident to another officer, stating:
“I got shot with, like— I thought it was a beer or something, because people were going crazy the whole time. My face started burning. I couldn’t see anything, and then I went off to the side, yelled ‘pepper spray,’ because that’s what I thought it was, and it ended up being that.”
The youth was still recovering from the effects of being hit with the deterrent in that clip, visibly in pain and short of breath. It was also revealed that teen fan was apparently helped directly by Lyons, as the teen’s dad relayed:
“We were towards the back. They were up towards the front for most of the show. And the show ends, and his phone is calling me, and it’s the [expletive] bassist from Turnstile who somehow got his phone and is like trying to get me to where my son is, and I can’t fathom why. And then I get there and he is laying in the fetal position, pepper sprayed. I don’t understand.”
According to one individual in the footage, the officer who fired the pepper spray allegedly stated that it was an accident. The unidentified man in the footage relayed of that, “The fact that he lied about it is worse. He said he had it in his hand and didn’t realize the pin was out and it just fired out. I need to tell these guys at some point that he was disciplined in some way.”
CBS 6 contacted Sherriff Irving for comment on these allegations, but had not heard back as of press time. While Irving did confirm a preliminary investigation had been conducted, she said its findings remains under review. A 14-minute compilation of the body cam footage from the show regarding the matter be seen over at wtvr.com. A condensed version of that footage can be found in the CBS 6 report below:
