The scheduled second day of the celebration in Pack Square Park downtown was canceled due to a shóóting that occurred on June 17 after the city’s Juneteenth celebration.
Capt. Joseph Silberman announced in a news release at noon on June 18 that the Asheville Police Department has charged a 16-year-old with two counts of felonious assaμlt with a deἀdly weἀpon with the intent to muɼder and inflict serious ἰnjury.
Due to the suspect’s age, the police did not disclose the identity of the person they had arrested. On June 17 at 8:51 p.m., reports of gμnfire arrived. Two young people were discovered by police with gμnshot wounds.
They were taken seriously and ἰnjured to Mission Hospital. One has been discharged, while the other is still very ill but stable. Officers first detained two teenagers, but detectives cleared and released one:
“Officers and Forensic Technicians also recovered a 9mm pἰstol and a host of physical evidence that littered the park,” the news release said.
According to Yahoo, Christy Edwards, a spokeswoman for the City of Asheville, and Joseph Fox, vice president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County, both confirmed that the Juneteenth Festival, which was to take place at Pack Square Park downtown on June 18 and run from 1-6 p.m., has been canceled.
On June 17, at 9:11 p.m., the Facebook account Asheville Meksut Snitch Selimoski uploaded a video that looked to show emergency workers carrying a person into an ambulance at the park’s edge:
As the number of mass shóótings rises, we will keep you updated on the newest developments by covering the following:
- Nashville School Shóóting Video Shows Moment the Shóóter Was K!lled by Police
- Two Victims From the Minnesota Shóóting Were Recognized
According to a news release from the MLK Jr. association, Juneteenth, observed on June 19 as a federal holiday, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers under the command of Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas, bearing news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were now free. The news release said:
“This was two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Thus, starting the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.”
The investigation into the shóóting is still ongoing. As the number of mass shóótings rises, we will update you on the newest developments. You are welcome to follow us on our Facebook page if you want access to additional information.
