New details released in Canfield Fair gun incident

CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — New details were released in the incident regarding a teenager brandishing a gun at the Canfield Fair on Sunday.

Deputies with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office were working fair security when two people attending the fair told police a male had threatened them with a gun around 8 p.m. Sunday. The victims told police the suspect was wearing a black ski mask and showed a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants.

One victim told deputies he and the suspect used to be friends but they no longer associate, and since then, the suspect has made comments about shooting him and his family, reports state. Another witness told authorities the suspect showed up at her house with a gun before and threatened to kill her and her family.

Just before 9 p.m., fair police were notified of a person matching the suspect description near the grandstand, who began to run after hearing over the radio that authorities spotted him. Deputies gave chase, repeatedly shouting at the suspect to stop, which reports said he repeatedly disregarded.

When authorities caught the suspect, who Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said is 17 years old, he did not have a firearm, though a Glock 9mm pistol was found underneath a truck directly behind where he was apprehended, reports state.

In an interview with authorities, reports state the suspect said he was recently incarcerated in the Juvenile Justice Center on gun charges and was released after two weeks with the charges dismissed.

The suspect repeatedly denied having the gun before eventually admitting he got the weapon from an unspecified contact in the parking lot of a gas station hours before, reports state. The teen told police that he brought a gun to the fair because he was shot at the last time he was there, according to reports.

The suspect said he threatened the victims because one was speaking about his dead cousin and had threatened them in the past, reports state.

The teen was transported to the Juvenile Justice Center on the charges of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of aggravated menacing.

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