Kennywood increasing security and perimeter enhancements following triple shooting during Phantom Fall Fest
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Kennywood Park officials are increasing security and upgrading perimeter checks and entrance policies in the wake of a triple shooting during the opening of Phantom Fall Fest last Saturday night.
A total of three people were hit by bullets after gunfire rang out late on Saturday night. Two of the victims were 15 years of age, the third victim is a 39-year-old man. All three were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Allegheny County police recovered a gun at the scene, which they say was reported stolen in Ohio last year. It's still unclear if the gun that was recovered was that which was used in the shooting.
During Wednesday morning's briefing at the park, officials recapped the events of the evening, including the security that was in place and the screening technology used at the front gate.
Mark Pauls, Kennywood's general manager, said there were no glitches with the park's new weapon detection system from Evolv Technology. Evolv representatives showed Wednesday how the weapon detection system screens people and their bags while they walk through.
"If an alert does happen, the light will go red, then an image would be sent to the corresponding tablet. The security team would use that information to direct the guest who caused the alert off to the side, they will go through a resolution process," said Rick Abraham, the vice president of technical sales & solutions for Evolv Technology.
Officials also shared "new and enhanced" security measures being put into place now before the park reopens on Friday.
Those measures include:
- Increased police support
- Perimeter enhancements
- Chaperone policy updates
- Park entrance policies
- New bag policy
- Limiting facial coverings
The park will be doubling the number of police officers for each night of their fall season, Kennywood officials said. That upgraded presence will be at the entrance and throughout the park. Park leadership will also be wearing uniform red jackets out in the crowds.
On top of doubling the police presence and having more staff at night, Kennywood officials are taking major steps to secure the perimeter fence line.
"We have had people jumping the fence and that's why we had patrols. And it's more about you're not paying to get in, and it has a whole different connotation now. ... That's why we're staffing this fence line, we're lighting it up, we're adding cameras," said Pauls.
Pauls confirmed that police and security guards randomly patrolled the fence line on Saturday evening and the security cameras in the area where the shooting happened were working.
"Until things change, you're going to see people sitting on that fence line the entire time we're open," he said.
Anyone 17 years of age or younger will now need to be accompanied by an adult who is at least 21. Children and teens must be accompanied by their chaperone at the entrance and throughout the park, Kennywood officials said.
In addition, at the entrance to the park, officials said they are installing new signage at security screening areas, removing their old screening system to eliminate confusion and implementing additional spot checks of bags. The park's bag policy is changing as well. They said only bags within the dimensions of 8x5x1 are permitted. Diaper and medical bags are also okay to take in.
The park's facial coverings policy is also changing. The park said, "Masks that cover some or all of a person's face are not permitted to be worn by any guest after 6 p.m. They only exceptions are surgical masks or N95/KN95 masks" for COVID-19 precautions. Those types of masks cannot be covered by makeup, coloring or Halloween decorations.
For all of these changes, as well as additional park information, visit Kennywood's website here.
Park officials said, "The Kennywood team keeps those injured Saturday in our thoughts. As we prepare to open this weekend, please know we are fully committed to enhancing our operations to allow guests to end a safe, fun experience. We will continue consulting with law enforcement on additional safety measures to implement."
Most parkgoers who KDKA-TV talked to Wednesday said while the improvements may be a step in the right direction, they all agreed that what happened last weekend should have never happened.
"I was scared," said Christine Shuma, a West Mifflin resident that lives near the park. "When it comes to places like this where there's children involved, and two teenagers were shot, it's scary. It's very scary."
Some remain unsure if they'll ever go back to the park with their kids.
"I'm still kind of like -- woah. I don't really know. I'm not sure," said Teishia Harrison, a season passholder.
With Phantom Fall Fest reopening this weekend, Harrison said she's happy more security will be in place.
Others said they don't see how the park will be able to enforce its new chaperone policy.
"When you have teenagers, they like to go off with their friends and run off and that's kind of hard for the parents to keep an eye on all of them," Shuma said.
KDKA's Erika Stanish asked a parkgoer Wednesday if they feel comfortable going there again.
"No. I mean, I might go there again but people are still going to do what they want to do so. I hope these rules stop the violence and I hope that it changes people's actions," said Duquesne resident Andrea Jones.
KDKA also talked to one of the victims caught in the crossfire on Saturday. Brandon Ward didn't want to go on camera but said over the phone that the new policy changes won't make a difference.
"The day I was there, there were apparently multiple fights and none of the kids had chaperones. There were more kids than adults," Ward said. "When there's a group of 30 kids going in at a time together... the poor kids that also got shot, he had nobody with him," Ward said.
Ward continues to recover at home after being shot in the leg.
Meanwhile, KDKA-TV asked Kennywood officials if they had an active shooter plan in place to handle something like this.
"We have emergency action training, which involves that kind of discussion. There's always chances for improvement, something we will take a look at," Pauls said.
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