From severe weather and a World Series win, to gun violence and an at-times contentious legislative session, 2023 featured plenty of major headlines. Over the last two weeks of the year, KRLD is looking back at the stories that defined the year.
About 2.3 million people visited the State Fair of Texas this year. But KRLD's Steven Pickering reports the fall tradition for many families was disrupted by a Saturday night shooting.
The night of October 14th started like most other nights at the State Fair with nice weather and a large crowd. But that quickly changed just before 8:00 p.m. when Dallas Police Senior Corporal Melinda Gutierrez says someone opened fire.
"One man shot at another man. In the end three people were shot, all with non-life threatening injuries" said Gutierrez.
"We were on the east side of the Cotton Bowl and saw 8 horse-mounted police officers heading toward the Midway area, said KRLD's Russel Scott. "We didn't hear the gunshots but saw people making their way away from the Midway and toward the Coliseum."
Police at the scene arrested 22-year-old Cameron Turner of Dallas. He told police he was threatened by a large group of men, but police say surveillance camera video shows him shooting one man after a brief conversation and then also shooting two other people nearby.
A new security system at the Fair's entrances was supposed to prevent people from bringing weapons onto the Fairgrounds. State Fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis talked about the new scanners before the Fair opened.
"This is the latest and greatest technology when it comes to detection, said Condoianis. "We're looking for weapons and this is going to be able to detect any of that as people walk through it."
The Fair did allow people with valid handgun licenses to carry their guns in a concealed manner, but investigators say Turner did not have a license.
The Fair's Head of Security, Jeff Cotner, says they're still trying to determine how the suspect got the gun into the fairgrounds. He says they perform regular reviews of security procedures to determine if they can be improved.
People did return to the Fair the day after the shooting and many said they were not going to let one instance of violence keep them away.
Suspect Cameron Turner is charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is being held in the Dallas County Jail on a $1.6 million bond.
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