Shooting at New Jersey Art Festival leaves 22 people injured
An early-morning shooting at an arts festival in Trenton left 22 people injured, including four who were in critical condition, authorities said Sunday.
The shooting broke out inside the historic Roebling Wire Works building around 2:45 a.m., according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri. The shooting stemmed from a dispute among individuals, a Trenton law-enforcement official said.
At least two suspects began shooting inside the annual Art All Night festival, a 24-hour music and arts festival that was scheduled to run from Saturday afternoon through Sunday, authorities said.
One of the shooters, a 33-year-old man, was believed to be shot and killed by police, Mr. Onofri said. Another suspect was apprehended by Trenton police officers. Police found multiple weapons at the event, authorities said.
Officials said that of those injured, 17 had gunshot wounds. Some of the victims were grazed by bullets.
Kate Stier, a spokeswoman for Capital Health, one of the hospitals where victims were sent, said a 13-year-old boy was among the four people still in critical condition Sunday afternoon. Twelve others were in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, she said.
“Everyone was well prepared. We were able to get everyone through,” she said.
Dawn Schale, a 51-year-old life coach in New Jersey, went to the festival to support her friend who was displaying a painting, and left the event before the shooting. She said there were thousands of people in what she described as a multicultural crowd in a “dilapidated area” of the city, and that security was present at the event.
“It was just really nice to be in this environment, to see people coming together and talking to each other,” she said. “This is about heart and soul and expression, and then someone comes in and does this.”
Joseph Kuzemka, the director of the festival said, “We’re very shocked. We’re deeply saddened. Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.”
Angelo Nicolo, 41 years old, a Trenton resident who lives near the festival, said he had attended but went home shortly before the shooting. He noticed the crowd had swelled to such a size that local police were trying to disperse some groups, he said.
“At this point it was getting dangerous because if something did happen, there would be a stampede, which is precisely what happened,” he said.
Mr. Nicolo returned home, and was sitting on his front porch with his brother when they noticed loud popping noises. At first, Mr. Nicolo said, he thought it was pre-July Fourth fireworks. But soon realized it was gunfire coming from the event.
Mr. Nicolo said he saw a frightening scene. “People were running like crazy, they were running down alleyways they were running down the streets, it was chaos,” he said. “It was just police everywhere, people going crazy, screaming and yelling.”
The Art All Night festival is held in the Chambersburg neighborhood in a 50,000-square-foot building, once the site of a factory that made the wire for many U.S. suspension bridges, according to the event’s webpage. Those bridges include the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
“This can’t be discarded as just random violence; this is a public health issue,” said Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson. “We have to work cooperatively and collaboratively with parents and law enforcement to end this gun violence and destruction in our towns.”
Brett Sabo, a member of the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action, a gun violence prevention advocacy group, said members of the organization were present at the festival. “Our volunteers were there to help their community organize to stop gun violence and tragically became witnesses to it,” she said in the statement. “We should feel safe in churches, schools and at art festivals. We must do more to protect our kids and families from gun violence.”
Source: WSJ
