A Salvadoran man was shot and left paralyzed. While he was handcuffed, crowds of youths, most in their teens and twenties, formed and started to attack the police. Around 400 youths fought running street battles with the police for several hours, late into the night. Police cars were torched and several stores looted. The District’s mayor, Sharon Pratt Dixon, told the police to hold back from making arrests for looting because she feared it would antagonize the crowd and lead to more violence. District law enforcement officials had problems massing enough riot police to control the riot because of a lack of communication equipment. Due to these problems, they had an uncoordinated response when the rioting first began. Because of this poor initial response, several police officers were left to fend for themselves as the rioters attacked them and had to wait for rescue by other officers. The violence continued until early in the morning, when the crowds began to break up because of rain.