DESOTO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — On what many families expected to be a night of fun at the fair, things turned to chaos after shots rang out at the fairgrounds in Arcadia Saturday. A 17-year-old was killed in the shooting. His family has identified him to 8 On Your Side as Daniel Rodriguez Lopez.
His mother shared a photo of the teen with us Monday.
Elizabeth Perez, who was working the fair the night of the incident, describes the chaos that ensued after the shooting.
“All you could hear was shots. Next thing you know you see people running and I didn’t even know what was going on,” said Perez. “It is a shame, stuff like this happening at a fair. It ruins it for a lot of people. It ruins it for the fair and it ruins it for people in the public,” she continued.
Organizers decided to keep the gates closed Sunday night. Monday morning, many vendors expected the fair to reopen in the evening, but fair organizers said they were keeping it closed for a second night ‘out of an abundance of caution’.
“Due to the threats at the High School the Desoto County Fair will remain closed today out of an abundance of caution. We remain in close contact with local law enforcement,” organizers wrote in a social media post.
Authorities are actively working to track down whoever shot and killed the teen. Arcadia police are asking for the public’s help identifying people circled in the following still from a video posted online.
“We are looking for the person who initially recorded that video, and would like to speak to them. We are also attempting to identify three subjects in the video. A young Hispanic female wearing a black jacket and light jeans, male subject wearing a light shirt and shorts, and an adult male standing in the back that appears to have a beard. These subjects may have valuable information and need to be spoken to,” the police department wrote in a Facebook post.
The investigation remains active and ongoing.