CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Cincinnati police say they are investigating after a Roman Catholic priest said he was assaulted while trying to break up a fight between teenagers in downtown Cincinnati.

Father Robert Jack says he was coming to work on his daily radio show Tuesday when he noticed two teenage girls being chased in the parking lot between his apartment building.

Father Rob says he was wearing his Roman collar when one of the girls hit him.

“She gave me a good punch,” Father Robert described. “I mean, I felt it. It wasn’t like a dud, I mean, it was “boom”, you know?

Father Rob says adults from the nearby YWCA came to help him.

“I got to about 8th Street and looked over, and I saw about 15 or 20 African-American teenagers, boys and girls, running and they were all converging there,” Father Rob recalled.

He said the group got halfway to the parking lot when a fight broke out.

“One of the girls started beating the other girl who was there and it was, you know, a pretty violent thing,” the father said. “They fight, hit each other and pull each other’s hair.”

Recording 911 calls: “Hey hey… hello… hello.” We have a big fight. We’re having a big fight here on Walnut Street with these high school kids.

Father Rob said he thought the adults had the situation under control after yelling at the teens to end the situation.

“I see another one coming and I thought, maybe she’ll help her friend,” Father Rob said. “Well, I was wrong. She starts moaning and hitting her again and hitting her head with her fist again.

Recording 911 calls: “They’re jumping on this girl. Grown adults jumping on a teenager.

Cincinnati police said when officers arrived, all parties had scattered in multiple directions.

Police said no victims came forward and no injuries were reported.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has not yet responded to FOX19 NOW’s request for comment, but, in his State of the City address Tuesday, he addressed the growing problem of teen violence on Government Square and other transit centers.

“Violence prevention is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but know this, we will invest here to ensure the right people are on the ground and the right systems are in place to make every neighborhood healthy, vibrant, and safely,” said the mayor.

In September, Cincinnati Police Chief Theresa Theetge made a surprise visit to a Cincinnati school board meeting, where she said there had been an increase in teen violence since the start of the school year.

The chief said if CPS doesn’t help find solutions to the problem, the situation could escalate.

Father Rob opened up about his ordeal on Facebook and spoke about it on his show on Sacred Heart Radio.

“My message is to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and learn to respect and care for each other. This is my message. If we want to succeed in this life, we must learn to understand ourselves. We must learn to take care of each other.

Police said they were reviewing surveillance footage provided by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

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