The State Fair of Texas was evacuated last year following a shooting incident that left three people injured.
The shooter was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as reported by The Dallas Express. The incident raised security concerns for the annual event attended by millions.
Dallas City Council Member Adam Bazaldua — whose District 7 has seen the most ‘crimes against person’ committed against black and Hispanic individuals this year out of any of the City of Dallas’s 14 City Council Districts — called for gun restrictions in the aftermath of the shooting, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“It’s one thing to have a right to bear arms, it’s another to have legislation, like permit-less carry, that makes it easier for senseless acts of gun violence like this to be carried out in our state. I wish our Republican friends in Austin would pass meaningful gun legislation to help our constituents feel safe in public,” Bazaldua posted on X.
The State Fair of Texas had been an ardent supporter of the “rights of responsible gun-owning Texans,” allowing attendees “with valid handgun licenses to carry their handguns in a concealed manner while attending the Fair.”
However, it looks like that’s changing.
KERA News reports on Thursday’s announcement by State Fair officials that all firearms will be banned from fairgrounds this year. Here’s the start of the story:
The State Fair of Texas will ban all firearms from fairgrounds and tighten security at fair entrances during the upcoming event, officials announced Thursday — about a year after an alleged gunman opened fire on the fairgrounds and injured three people.
The annual security update, in which fair officials were joined by the Dallas Police Department, DART police and Dallas ISD police, came earlier than usual. It’s been almost a year since one man shot at another in the food court at the Tower Building around 7:45 p.m. Oct. 14, Dallas police said. Victims had non-life-threatening injuries.
Karissa Condoianis, senior vice president of public relations for the State Fair, said because the investigation did not determine how the alleged gunman got the weapon into the fair, “we may never know” how it happened.
“We are putting measures in place to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to make it not happen again,” she said.
Police arrested 22-year-old Cameron Turner in connection with the shooting. He’s charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place.
