Six students were hospitalized Tuesday after pepper spray was used to break up a fight at a Dallas high school.
An altercation broke out between two female students in the hallways of Hillcrest High School in the 9900 block of Hillcrest Road shortly before 2 p.m.
A large crowd of students gathered around the two girls, and an in-school security guard used pepper spray to break up the fight and disperse the crowd.
Six girls between the ages of 15 and 18, including the two who were fighting, were taken to the hospital in stable condition.
But the pepper spray spread into the school's air ducts. School administrators evacuated Hillcrest's more than 1,000 after other students began to have trouble breathing and felt their skin burning.
Those students were treated at the school and released.
Students were out of class for about an hour while the ventilation system was cleared.
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In doing so, roughly 20 students were exposed to the chemical -- prompting them to complain of breathing problems and/or a burning sensation on their face.
It was not immediately clear what started the fight.
The two girls who were fighting were given citations.
