DUMAS, ARKANSAS (AP) – One man was killed and 27 people were wounded when two people got into a gunfight during a car show that’s part of an annual community event in a small southeast Arkansas town, authorities said on Sunday.
A person who left the scene of the Saturday evening shooting has been arrested on unrelated charges and is being questioned about the shooting in Dumas, a city of about 4,000 located about 90 miles south of Little Rock, Arkansas State Police Col Bill Bryant said.
“All we know at this time, there was two individuals that got in a gunfight,” Bryant said at a Sunday afternoon news conference.
He said several children were among the wounded, including two under the age of two.
The car show is part of a community event held each spring called Hood-Nic, which is short for neighbourhood picnic. The Hood-Nic Foundation said on its website that its mission is to “rebuild, reunite, and respond to the needs of the youth in our communities.”
The event, which helps raise funds for scholarships and school supplies, also included a bonfire, a basketball tournament, musical performances, a teen party and a balloon release.
“The purpose of Hood-Nic has always been to bring the community together,” the foundation said on its Facebook page. “This senseless violence needs to end.”
Cameron Shaffer, 23, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, was killed in the gunfire, Bryant said. He said authorities have no indication that he was involved in the gunfight.
Earlier in the day, Governor Asa Hutchinson said on Twitter that one of the two suspects had been arrested and was being held on unrelated charges.
