Riverfront Carousel windows damaged in shooting as police recover 96 bullet casings
Gunfire erupted in Riverfront Park early Wednesday morning following a dispute between two groups of people.
Salem police are asking for the public’s help in identifying people or vehicles involved in the shooting, which left several cars riddled with bullet holes and damaged two windows at the Hazel Patton Riverfront Park Carousel.
Witnesses called in reports of gunfire around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, said Angela Hedrick, Salem Police Department spokeswoman. Officers responded within minutes and stopped vehicles coming out of the parking lot, but Hedrick said the people involved had already fled the scene.
Nobody reported an injury to police, Hedrick said.
She said police are trying to pin down the basics of what happened in the park, including how many people were involved, and descriptions of any people or vehicles involved.
Police posted an audio clip captured by neighbors, where a volley of shots is audible.
Investigators recovered 96 bullet casings from multiple types of guns, Hedrick said.
Bullets hit windows on the carousel building, shattering the glass. The damage will cost about $2,200 to repair, said Marie Bradford-Blevins, the carousel’s executive director. She expects repairs to be completed in about two weeks.
The carousel is a nonprofit organization which leases the building it operates in from the city of Salem. Under its lease agreement, the carousel is responsible for paying for any damage to the building. Insurance won’t cover the cost, Bradford-Blevins said, because the carousel’s policy only insures items in the interior of the building that the nonprofit owns.
“Donations would greatly help just to offset that cost,” she said.
Bradford-Blevins got a call about the damage around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday and came to the park in the middle of the night to inspect the damage. The carousel itself was not hit, and opened its normal hours Wednesday.
“We didn’t look pretty but we opened,” Bradford-Blevins said. The carousel will remain open during its normal hours while repairs are completed. Both damaged windows have been boarded up with plywood.
Investigators are hoping the public can help fill in details about what happened at the park. Hedrick said people reporting suspicious vehicles that appear to have bullet holes in them would also be helpful.
Witnesses and people with information about the shooting can call the police department tips line at 503-588-8477.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
