Oklahoma State Fair Officials Consider Security Strategies For Next Year After Weekend Shooting

"We have a lot of camera views around the property, and we can pretty much say that person, that individual did not enter the property through any of the metal detectors," said Oklahoma State Fair spokesman Scott Munz.

Tuesday, September 26th 2023, 12:00 pm

By: Jennifer Pierce

OKLAHOMA CITY -

A breach in security led to a shooting at the Oklahoma State Fair on Saturday night, according to a fair official. Police arrested a 17-year-old on Saturday for the assault that sent one person to a local hospital in critical condition.

Cameras were watching as fairgoers walked through the entrance gates. Visitors also had to pass through high-density metal detectors made to catch weapons and firearms.

"They work," said Oklahoma State Fair spokesman Scott Munz. "We’ve caught a lot of guns; we’ve turned a lot of guns around."

Munz compared a breach in security at the State Fair to the U.S. southern border.

"It’s like the border. You can protect the border crossing," he said. "You can’t protect the Rio Grande unless you throw Concertina wire in there."

Police responded to the chaos Saturday night after a shooting inside the Bennett Event Center.

"While we were running, we saw cops sprinting into the building," said Fair visitor Cannon Smith.

Police evacuated the grounds to search for the gunman. They arrested a teenager, who police suspect shot and critically injured one person. One other person was taken into custody but released that night.

"We have a lot of camera views around the property, and we can pretty much say that person, that individual did not enter the property through any of the metal detectors," said Munz.

Munz said work was underway to close the security gaps.

"We’ll do an after-action sit-down recap meeting, and we’ll see if there’s anything we should be doing differently," said Munz.

One safety measure may include a curfew for minors.

"There are a lot of fairs that currently have a curfew policy for unaccompanied minors," said Munz. "We’re going to review that see how it was executed, see how it was received."

The 17-year-old suspect was booked into the county juvenile detention center. Police have not released the victim's latest condition.