Two people are in the hospital after a shooting at the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival just minutes before Saturday's events were set to end.
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed the shooting in a Facebook post.
“The Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival is being closed at this hour following one individual being shot on the grounds,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson wrote in that post, published around 9:40 p.m. Saturday.
A second post on the TPSO's Facebook page confirmed that the initial victim suffered an abdomen wound. The second victim, officials say, suffered a graze wound.
Despite the shooting, the Strawberry Festival will open at 9 a.m. Sunday as scheduled. Officials say events will begin with a church service, while rides will begin at 10 a.m. However, the festival will end at 5 p.m., two hours earlier than initially planned. Sheriff Sticker says his agency and nearly a dozen others will be on patrol at the fairgrounds and in the area surrounding the festival.
The Ponchatoula Police Department is in charge of the shooting investigation.