WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. (AP) — A 15-year-old was arrested in last month’s shooting at a western Pennsylvania amusement park that injured three people, including two teenagers.
Allegheny and West Mifflin County police said last week the teenager was charged as an adult with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and firearms crimes during the beatings. September 24 fire in Kennywood Park on the opening night of the park’s Phantom Fall Fest.
Park officials said Saturday night’s shooting followed an altercation between two groups of teenagers near the Musik Express route in the park in West Mifflin, southeast of Pittsburgh. A 39-year-old man and two 15-year-old boys were taken to hospital with leg injuries, authorities said.
Investigators said last week that evidence recovered from the scene indicated two shots were fired, including one by the arrested teenager. He himself was also grazed in the thigh by a bullet, and authorities are looking for a second suspect, who Christopher Kearns, the county police superintendent, is “most likely” a minor.
Kennywood closed for the day after the shooting and announced new safety measures, including more police, more security along perimeter fences, limits on the size of bags and masks covering faces and requiring chaperones adults for all minors anytime during Fall Fest, scheduled to run through mid-October.
Kearns said it’s still unclear how the weapons entered the park, and investigators are still investigating the possibility that the weapons were thrown over the park fence or carried by someone who jumped the fence. fencing. Officials said they were cutting down trees along the perimeter fence to improve visibility and installing new floodlights and security cameras to completely cover the fence. They also promised to “significantly” increase security patrols.
Authorities said they believe the gunfire stemmed from a feud between two groups of teenagers that led to dozens of shootings in several communities in Mon Valley. Victor Joseph, the county’s assistant superintendent of police, cited 55 calls for shots fired in Duquesne and Homestead, the rival groups’ communities.
“We all know this is a serious problem,” Joseph said. “People who live in these communities know how serious this is. People who have lost loved ones to gun violence and incarceration know how devastating it is.
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This story has been corrected to show the deadline is West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, not Ohio.
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