TOLEDO – Shoes, drinks and a baby stroller were left behind after a mad dash out of the Old West End’s Agnes Reynolds Jackson Arboretum, where gunshots were heard in the late afternoon on Saturday.
In the heart of the Old West End Festival (OWEF), halfway into the set of the local band Goalpost, a stampede of people fled the loud shots, and police responded around 5:37 p.m., according to Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joseph Heffernan.
12 individuals were struck by bullets, with two in critical condition as of the night of the shooting. The age range of the victims was estimated between 14 and 61 according to police Lieutenant Dan Gerken. Toledo Fire & Rescue and Police were quickly on the scene where police believe two individuals traded gunfire across the busy center of the Old West End Festival.
Goalpost’s perspective
“I saw a big wave of people running by,” said Matt Cashin, lead singer for Goalpost, who couldn’t hear what was going on over their band’s music. Unfortunately, it would not be long before the band saw for themselves what was happening.
“I ducked down, and then everybody was running,” said the band’s drummer, Daniel Price. “I looked over, and a girl fell down, like right here,” he pointed to a spot a little bit from where his drums were set up.
“She must have got shot like, what? Two feet away?” he estimated.
Price thought quickly when the woman was struck and, equipped with a box of spare band t-shirts, tried to apply a tourniquet to the wound on her leg.
Meanwhile, Cashin experienced something similar on the other side of the gazebo, where his sister was “grazed” by a bullet. And another friend, Seth Frontine, sustained a bullet through the foot.
Price reported Frontine in good spirits, despite the injury, and that Frontine had even tried to fist bump Price in solidarity after being shot.
From playing a musical set to experiencing gun violence, Price was not sure how to process what had happened.
Later, Price learned his sister-in-law was shot.
“This sucks. Worst Fest of all-time. Zero out of ten,” Price lamented, trying to lighten the mood a bit with a half-joking, half-sincere tone.
Goalpost’s full audio setup and the band’s instruments were all abandoned when the shooting started. Fearing thieves in the night, the audio engineers and the band came back to pick up the equipment around 9:45 p.m. after the police conducted their search and forensics in the area.
Band members tore down their routine setup to the backdrop of items strewn across the Arboretum.
Bloody bandages, medical tourniquets and saline solution syringes were left behind along with a pool of blood, marked with number five, in the beer garden, where officers said one woman was found.
Together the band talked over what had happened, and kept an upbeat demeanor as they moved their items away from their unfinished set. Three of the four band members said they lived in the neighborhood.
Ongoing investigation
“It’s really early in the investigation,” Gerken said, and assured the public that the police were talking with victims, witnesses and reviewing camera footage.
Multiple city officials, including District 1 Toledo City Councilman John Hobbs III, asked the public to assist the police in apprehending the suspects in any way possible.
Even so, Heffernan said, “There is a lot of evidence; it’s just a matter of going through a lot of that evidence.”
Trying to get a handle on the image of Toledo Hobbs pushed back against the darkness of the day.
“What happened today is not a reflection of what our city is and what we stand for,” Hobbs said.
Canceled festival
Sunday events of the festival are canceled due to the shooting.
The public relations chair for the Old West End Association, Dan Finkel, made the announcement to the Toledo Free Press around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, and sent this message:
“Too often we turn on the news and learn of a celebration somewhere that turns into a tragedy. Now, that news comes from our own neighborhood. We are heartbroken about those that were injured at the Old West End Festival. Many people want to know how we proceed from such a dark place.
“After discussion with festival organizers, law enforcement and the City of Toledo, we feel that it would not be compassionate, responsible or possible to continue festival; therefore, all festival events for Sunday, June 7 are cancelled.”
