Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams and Police Commissioner Thomas Carter discussed an incident at the city’s July 4th fireworks event, at a press conference.
Harrisburg’s fireworks show was cut short Thursday night to ensure the safety of attendees, according to officials.
During the city’s annual Fourth of July food truck festival and fireworks display, Harrisburg police identified and apprehended several people carrying guns, prompting an early end to the fireworks, officials shared at a press conference on Friday.
The fireworks started at about 9:15 p.m. and ended around 15 minutes later.
Police Commissioner Thomas Carter shared that before and during the fireworks, police noticed several people carrying weapons.
Officers came across a juvenile with a gun with a 24-round magazine, who they took into custody, he said. Additionally, Carter said they spotted an adult man who police believed had a gun. He started running with another juvenile and threw his gun into the Susquehanna River. Both were arrested and police are still searching for the gun in the river, Carter said. The police also stopped a boy with a BB gun, who was released.
Officials also stated that kids were setting off firecrackers and running in the area.
While one of the people carrying a gun was running from police, he ran through the tent where Mayor Wanda Williams was sitting with her family and knocked her over, injuring her leg, she said.
Carter said that, after all of those events, he asked Williams if they could end the fireworks early for safety reasons.
“I am just as angry and frustrated as you are,” Williams said. “We had a beautiful family holiday event yesterday, and it was ruined. I am personally sorry to the families who brought their kids and weren’t able to see a full fireworks show. I am even sorry that families no longer feel safe coming to these events.”
At Harrisburg’s fireworks show in 2022, hundreds of people fled the riverfront after a fight broke out and someone yelled “gun,” although there was no shooting.
Carter said that he did not want to replicate the panic of that occurrence. He applauded the efforts of the police officers who responded to the safety threats.
“We are talking about the heroic acts of the officers who spotted potential danger and instead of doing nothing, they jumped into action,” Carter said.
Because of the work of the officers, which he said may have curbed potential danger, Carter reassured the public that Harrisburg is safe.
“Harrisburg is a safe city. We have the best officers,” he said.
While city officials said that they don’t know what they will do yet regarding next year’s July 4th fireworks show to ensure safety, they are discussing many different options.
“There are security measures that we are going to take next year if the mayor decides to have fireworks, and we are going to look at everything,” Carter said.
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