A shooting broke out at the Washington County fair in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Fayetteville Police Department confirmed.
The reports broke out on the evening of August 26, 2022. Initial reports of multiple victims shot are inaccurate. Police wrote in a statement posted to their Facebook page that they located one victim, and they do not believe that the shooting was a random active shooter type of act.
Rather, they think it was targeted. The victim’s condition is not clear, and the motive isn’t either.
“Shooting at the Washington County fair here in Arkansas causing a stampede. My God when will it stop,” a woman wrote on Twitter.
Panicked people took to social media looking for information. “Can anyone confirm that there was an active shooter at the Washington County Fair tonight?” wrote one man early on.
Here’s what you need to know:
Police Confirmed That There Was a Shooting
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on August 26, 2022, Fayetteville Police Officers “responded to 2537 N. Mcconell AVE (Washington County Fair Grounds) in regards to a shooting,” police wrote in the statement.
“The Washington County Sheriff’s Office already had several deputies working at the fairgrounds. Officers located one victim, and immediately began to render first aid. The victim was then transported to a local medical facility,” police wrote.
“Initial investigation leads us to believe that this was not a random act of violence,” they wrote.
A woman wrote on the police Facebook comment thread, “Unbelievable many little kids left behind crying looking for family members praying everyone made it safe I heard about 6 shots everyone started running when a kid push me screaming someone got shot somebody is shooting.”
Another person wrote on the thread, “I was about 10 yards from the shooting. Didn’t see who but everyone was sprinting, chaos. Made it to the exit and what I thought was safety till a kid comes sprinting out the gates yelling ‘TAKE COVER.’ Ran all the way to the gas station near the highway.”
A man wrote on Twitter, “Something has happened at the Washington County Fair tonight in Fayetteville. Our daughter & friend saw people stampeding to get out. People bleeding. Someone told them there was a shooter. We can hear multiple police sirens arriving on scene while we are on the phone.”
A woman wrote on the police comment thread, “I was here when it happened, I thought it was a bomb because of all the smoke I saw but in the current moment I didn’t care, thank you so much Logan and Abigail for helping me call my parents.”
The Suspect Is at Large
Shooting at the Washington County fair here in Arkansas causing a stampede. My God when will it stop
Police were still trying to sort out the details. “Officers are on scene investigating to see what exactly occurred,” they wrote in their initial statement.
“The suspect has not been located. This is all the information we have at this time. This investigation is on-going.”
A person wrote on Twitter, “Hearing reports of a shooting (incident seems to be over) at the Washington County Fair. Really hoping everyone is ok and just devastating that you can’t go see the feather-footed chickens, eat funnel cake and ride the Himalayan without getting shot in this libertarian hellscape.”
A man wrote on Twitter, “Hope everyone who attended the Washington county fair tonight is okay we were literally there hours before the shooting and they literally haven’t found the person who did it and there were so many cops there are you kidding me?”
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