TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio were searching for a 20-year-old man in connection with a shooting at a crowded neighborhood street festival that wounded 12 people while authorities also asked for help identifying another potential gunman.
Ka Nye Taylor is wanted on 11 counts of felonious assault, the Toledo Police Department said Wednesday, four days after people fled the shooting in a park filled with event tents and food trucks, as bystanders
and medics raced to treat the wounded.
Police also released a photo of a second suspected shooter and asked for the public's help figuring out who he is. Phone numbers for Taylor or his family members were not immediately available or found in online directories.
Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle said Tuesday that the shooting followed a physical altercation between members of two rival groups. As one person was tackled and assaulted, another began firing a gun, followed by a second person who responded with more gunshots, he said at a news conference Tuesday. Three of the 12 people shot were involved in the altercation while the rest were bystanders.
The police chief and other city officials praised officers and good Samaritans who quickly helped the victims.
“We saw strangers who were shocked and frightened by the violence they just saw, they jumped into action,” said Chief of Fire and Rescue Allison Armstrong. “They helped others by placing tourniquets, dressing wounds, applying pressure and comforting those victims until additional help could arrive.”
Half the victims arrived at hospitals with tourniquets applied by either police or bystanders who jumped in to help, Armstrong said.
The victims ranged from teenagers to one person in their 60s. All but three of them had been released from the hospital by Tuesday.
Hundreds of people were at the Old West End Festival, an annual two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district featuring live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping. Located in northwest Ohio near the western edge of Lake Erie, Toledo is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Detroit.
The remainder of the festival was canceled Sunday. Organizers said “it would not be compassionate, responsible or possible” to continue through the weekend.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
