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UPDATE: State police have since concluded a week-long investigation into the reports, finding no evidence of gunfire on the fairgrounds, Trooper Sgt. Jack Keller told syracuse.com Thursday, Sept. 12.

The Great New York State Fair closed early Sunday night after the New York State Police received multiple reports of gunshots in the fairgrounds. State troopers who responded to the incident later determined there was no evidence of shots fired, according to a 12:33 a.m. Monday X post from the Fair.

Despite the reports proving to be unfounded, many Syracuse University students who attended the Fair remain emotionally affected due to uncertainty and chaos of the event. The Daily Orange spoke to several students who were at the fairgrounds when reports of gunshots first emerged.

“It felt so real. It felt like one of those drills in school,” Leana Bashar, an SU senior who was at the Fair during the incident, said. “Even if it was false, it still was scary, the fact that it could have happened.”

On Sunday evening, police assigned to the area received multiple 911 calls reporting possible shots fired at two different locations within the fairgrounds, according to police records. The first incident was reported at 8:38 p.m. between the Midway and concert section at Suburban Park and the second at 8:41 p.m. near the Eatery building.

Sunday evening marked Bashar’s first time attending the Fair, she said. She recalls arriving at the fairgrounds at around 6 p.m., where she and multiple friends initially took a look at the animals, tried some of the food vendors and tried to win prizes at the carnival games. After spending a couple hours exploring the Fair, she then saw a group of teenagers sprinting toward the exit.

More fairgoers joined the running crowd. Bashar said she and her friends quickly followed suit, responding to the possible threat of danger. She said she heard panicked parents calling for their children, which made her think about her own family, whom she was unable to contact.

“I was just frozen … My friend was cradling me and stroking my hair,” Bashar said. “All I could think about was, ‘I really hope someone doesn’t break in right now.’ I was in that position for maybe five to 10 minutes, but it just felt like hours.”

Following instruction of an older man who appeared to be a Fair employee, Bashar and her friends quickly and safely exited through the back door of the building they were hiding in and followed crowds of people to the parking lot, she said. They made the decision to leave in part because they had not heard police sirens or instructions from law enforcement, she said.

Another SU student, junior Alexia Harris, was also a first-time Fair attendee. She and her boyfriend had only been at the fairgrounds for seven minutes before people rushed to the gates.

“I’ve never seen that in my life before. I kept hearing people saying, ‘Someone has a gun, there’s a gun, they’re shot (and) they’re shooting,’” Harris said. “Then all of the police officers took their guns out and started running toward where all the people were running away from.”

Harris said immediately after she left, she began looking at social media posts and news reports to try to figure out what happened.

Laila Kennedy, another SU junior, said that while she didn’t hear gunshots, she saw “hordes” of people screaming and running toward the entrances soon after she and her friends attempted to enter the Fair.

Several videos and messages about the incident quickly circulated on social media, with users speculating on what caused people to flee and led the Fair to close that night. One X user, @qasimciit, posted a video of people fleeing the fairgrounds at 9:16 p.m. Sunday. The post included a caption falsely stating there was an “active shooting” at the Fair.

The Fair wrote in a 9:40 p.m. statement on X that the early closure was out of an “abundance of caution” following the reports of violence. The state police confirmed there was no evidence of shots fired or anyone being injured, the department confirmed Monday in a 12:02 a.m. X post.

Shortly after, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul expressed her gratitude to state police and other law enforcement’s response in a Sunday night post to X.

“Early reports indicate this was a false alarm, and no injuries have been identified. We will continue working to keep New Yorkers safe,” Hochul wrote.

The following morning, the Fair reopened as scheduled for its final day on Monday.

Both Bashar and Harris did not realize the reports were false until learning more on Monday. Bashar said she had been avoiding checking the news as she processed what had happened, so she only found out at around 3 p.m. Monday that shots had not actually been fired.

“I kind of was left confused,” Harris said. “Something had to have happened that was really serious for that amount of people to be so concerned, like actually running out of the building to leave the scene.”

The investigation is currently ongoing, and all inquiries are to be directed to state police.

News Editor Julia Boehning contributed reporting to this article.

Published on September 2, 2024 at 11:33 pm

Contact Kate: kjacks19@syr.edu