GUILDERLAND — On the evening of Dec. 28, two men were arrested at Crossgates Mall for assaulting two victims using several different weapons, including a baton, a pocket knife, and a pair of nunchuks.

The altercation started inside the mall near The Standard restaurant, when Kevin Fontanez “shoulder-checked” one of the victims, said Captain Curtis Cox of the Guilderland Police Department.

“I think that means he bumped into him,” said Cox.

The fight continued outside the mall, at which point Fontanez pulled out a retractable metal baton and struck one of the victims on the back of the knee, Cox said. The victims went back inside the mall, but were followed by Fontanez and co-defendant Robert Valentin.

Outside of Dick’s Sporting Goods store, Valentin pulled out a black pocket-knife and charged toward one of the victims, Cox said, and then used a pair of wooden nunchuks and struck the victim on the arm.

Nunchuks — from the Japanese word nunchaku — are a traditional weapon from Okinawa made of two sticks connected by a chain.

Fontanez, 19, of 288 Washington Ave., Albany, and Valentin, 20, of 959 Albany St., Schenectady, were apprehended by Guilderland Police after they ran from the mall and got onto a bus.

Fontanez was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and assault with intent to cause physical injury, a felony.

Valentin was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, both misdemeanors, and harassment, a violation, according to Cox.

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