Shooting at Oklahoma fair after gun slips by security
Oklahoma City OK September 25 2023 After Saturday’s shooting at the Oklahoma State Fair caused a massive evacuation KFOR reporter Amaya Ward spoke with Scott Munz a spokesperson for the fair about security.
Can you talk to us about security and your efforts to keep fairgoers as safe as possible?
“We work very closely with the Oklahoma City Police Officers and we also have the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office out here as well as our own off-duty officers that are under our control. We really take safety and security as priority number one. We have scanners at the gates which turn away a lot of weapons. Which, you’d be surprised how many people think that they can walk through a scanner with a weapon and they can’t. It’ll sound off so we’re reviewing the tapes to try and figure out how this individual, how there was a breach of this individual being able to bring a gun onto the property.”
For such a violent incident to happen, what do you hope to come back with this?
“Well it’s unfortunate that it happened but the fact that it was an isolated incident and not an active shooter like somebody took to a high perch somewhere and was firing on people in the lot or entertainment plaza or whatever. It was an isolated incident between two groups of juveniles. So, unfortunately, it happened but as soon as it was happening the police on the property were immediately on scene and taking control of the situation.”
Looking at tomorrow (Sunday), is it going to be business as usual?
“Yeah, we’ll be open tomorrow business as usual. We’ll still be running the scanners at the gate, we’ll still have a highly visible concentration of officers from the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. They will be on foot patrols, they will be at their lifeguard stands which elevates them above crowds so people should feel comfortable that there are officers all around, and in the unlikely incident that something happens then they’re going to be able to respond very quickly because they’re on site. We don’t have to worry about them coming from anywhere outlining areas so their response time is great.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
“We really are concerned with our fairgoer’s safety and security and this is an unfortunate situation but because this is an isolated incident we’ll deal with it. And we will take any advice from local police after they review their tapes and think there’s something we should do differently. We’ve been taking our guidance from them all along so I’m not quite sure what might come of this. But we’ll review it and see and if there’s something to be done we’ll surely do it.”
Fair officials said the fair will be open again on Sunday, which is the final day of the fair. However, in a post on X formerly known as Twitter, the fair said, “Starting at 5 p.m. daily, all minors, age 17 and under, must be accompanied by a parent, guardian, or chaperone (21+) when entering the Fair. Parents, guardians, or chaperones may accompany no more than six minors 17 years of age and under.”
