False reports of shooting result in State Fair shutting down early Sunday night
NEW YORK STATE FAIRGROUNDS (WSYR-TV) — The New York State Fair will reopen as scheduled for its final day Monday after it was closed early Sunday as a result of false reports of a shooting.
State Police tell NewsChannel 9 that investigating troopers have found no evidence of a shooting, despite people running in terror away from the Suburban Park concert venue.
People were seen running from the concert area and the Midway around 8:30 p.m., some of them claiming a shooting had happened.
The false information spread across social media.
The State Police Assistant Director of Public Information, Technical Sergeant Jack Keller, said he knows at least three phone calls to the 911 center or State Fair dispatch. Those calls reported possible shots fired at Suburban Park, the Midway, and the Eatery building.
"We're trying to determine exactly why someone would report this," Technical Sergeant Jack Keller said. "We don't know if they thought they heard shots fired if they were thinking that's what they heard, but the reality was there's no evidence of any kind of shooting that occurred at the Fairgrounds."
Those calls with false reports were made within a few minutes.
Keller calls the brief duration "another good indicator that something nefarious was going regarding a fake call, whether it was swatting, whether it was something else."
A Fair spokesperson cited "an abundance of caution" for closing the Fairgrounds.
After consulting with law enforcement, the decision was made to close the fair early on Sunday night out of an abundance of caution after New York State Police received reports of violence within the fairgrounds. The fair is continuing to work with law enforcement and emergency personnel to assess the situation.
The safety of fairgoers, staff, and vendors is the highest priority of The Great New York State Fair.
Spokesperson for the Great New York State Fair