A view of Harrisburg’s 2nd Street entertainment district.
Harrisburg officials plan to meet with business owners in the city’s downtown entertainment district to help prevent a recurrence of the turmoil that resulted in numerous fights and left two people with gunshot wounds early Sunday morning.
Mayor Eric Papenfuse said he is arranging meetings with bar, club and restaurant owners along 2nd Street to share ideas on how to improve safety, especially following late-night closing time.
“It’s going to require the cooperation of the bar and restaurant owners,” he said. “There may be things they can do to make the downtown safer.”
At about 2:40 a.m. on Sunday, Harrisburg police put out a call for assistance after they found they could not control a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 people along a two-block stretch of N. 2nd Street. According to police, fistfights broke out near Locust Street, followed by more fights at Pine Street that resulted in two people shot being shot in the leg. The crowd in the street was so large that officers had trouble getting to the area of the shooting, police said.
According to Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter, no arrests have yet been made in the shooting.
Papenfuse said he would be willing to consider numerous options, from realigning police resources to collecting a fee from business owners to pay for extra security.
Currently, Harrisburg police deploy several officers to the downtown from other parts of the city around the 2 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. closing time. In addition, some club owners—notably Ron Kamionka, who runs several bars and clubs there—employ off-duty police to assist around their establishments.
However, the crowd overwhelmed those resources on Sunday, causing state police and officers from surrounding municipalities to rush to the aid of Harrisburg’s force. Police also used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
“Due to the overwhelming amount of people committing violence, officers had to use pepper spray foggers to subdue the crowd,” police said in a statement.
The Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District employs two off-duty officers on Friday and Saturday nights, but they only serve during the 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. dinner hours, said Executive Director Todd Vander Woude. Papenfuse said that an expanded role for the district might be an option, perhaps funded by an additional fee on business owners to pay for the security.
Papenfuse and Carter spoke to the press following the city’s annual promotional and awards ceremony in city hall. In that ceremony, many officers were cited for bravery and achievements over the past year.
Both Papenfuse and Carter described Saturday night’s violence as unusual, the result of one-time events at several bars, notably at the Capital Gastropub. Moreover, Papenfuse said, large numbers of minors often flock downtown as bars close, mixing it up with departing club-goers and contributing to the instability on the sidewalks and streets.
“We’re going to sit down with the various stakeholders and come up with a plan,” he said.
