Shooting at Tulsa Juneteenth festival: witness recounts 'Traumatizing' night

Police say one person is dead and several others are injured after a shooting in downtown Tulsa at the city’s Juneteenth Festival late Saturday night.

The shooting comes during a violent weekend in Tulsa, with several other shootings across the city. Festival organizers canceled all other Juneteenth activities for the weekend.

Things quickly took a turn at Tulsa’s Juneteenth Festival around 11:00 last night.

“Food was good, people were having a good time and dancing with each other, then all of the sudden “boom,” said Virginia Steward. 

Police say 7 people were shot, and a 22-year-old man was struck and killed.

“We heard it,” said Antonio Ross, who was enjoying the festival with his family when they found themselves in the middle of it all.

“Like bodies on the ground... no one was dead, people were just hit and fragmented, I would assume, but there were like about 2 or 3 people over there, so… traumatizing, I would say,” he said. 

He says people are scared now, in what should be a time of celebration.

“It sucks that the community has to view such a historical and necessary event in this way,” Ross said. 

Ross says it’s hard to process what happened.

“You ask yourself, 'Why was I there?' like that’s close…I don’t know how I feel about it…it’s sad,” he said. 

This shooting is part of a violent past few days in Tulsa. Police say it marks one of at least 3 shootings during large gatherings over the last week.

Ross believes it's time for solutions as the community moves towards healing.

“We can talk about what happened and that sucks, but we start thinking about what we can do to maybe improve environments,” he said. 

Officers say the shooting may have involved at least 2 shooters. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified. Police are asking anyone with information on this shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS. 

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