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Marion County Fair ends early after large fight, shooting

Posted at 8:02 PM, Jul 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-19 20:02:37-04

INDIANAPOLIS — A woman who was at the Marion County Fair with her teenage son when a large fight and shooting happened is speaking out.

Sunday was supposed to be the last day of the fair, but the board of directors decided to cancel it.

Crews spent the day on Sunday cleaning up and taking down rides.

Officials said deputies with the Marion County Sheriff's Office were escorting juveniles from the fairgrounds after a fight when 100 to 150 juveniles and adults rushed the fair gates, forcing their way inside. After that, multiple fights started and at least one juvenile was shot.

The mother who spoke to RTV6 said she came to the fair with her son for his safety and ending the night this way was upsetting.

"I feel bad about it. I am an African-American woman. I have teenage boys," Amysha Craig, who attended the fair, said. "It's kind of sad when I see large groups of African-American boys, I am nervous about it. Luckily for me, I made it out safely. I am trying to explain to him what it means to be an innocent bystander. It's not always your situation you can be affected by. People were there with their children, infants, babies and strollers and it's just sad."

Craig said she noticed large groups of teenage boys at the fairgrounds on Saturday night with very little supervision.

Police also said they made multiple arrests prior to the fight and many of the teens were not with an adult.

The juvenile shot Saturday is expected to recover. A second teen who was injured was taken to the hospital, but police said she was not shot.

Police also said several people were taken into custody for questioning and multiple guns were recovered from the scene.