Pennsylvania Musikfest Resumes After Shooting: Is This Safe For the Public?

The Musikfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was shut down after a single shot was fired, witnesses say. The Bethlehem City Police arrived on the scene around 11:00 PM local time. The FBI was also called in to investigate the incident.

"Law enforcement is on-site and in control of the situation [...] There is no known continuing threat to the public," said Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Knott.

They added that the festival was shut down for the people's safety. However, on Sunday, the city announced that Musikfest is set to resume at noon. 

"There was an isolated incident at Musikfest, and the festival was shut down as a precaution for the safety of the patrons. There is no known continuing threat to the public," said local law enforcement.

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Is It Safe?

The night of the shooting left people terrified and worried for their safety. Many went on Facebook to share the events that took place. 

According to a report by The Morning Call, an eyewitness recalled a stampede forming, "We were watching people fall and get stepped on. So we quickly grabbed the children and we threw them around a tent to protect them."

The eyewitness noted that most of the festival's attendees did not even know what was going on; they were just overcome with fear and panic.

The stampede caused several injuries. The eyewitness shared that a man got trampled on, which left his hands bleeding. 

"He was bleeding profusely on his hands, so I tried to help them as much as I could," she said. 

"I thought maybe he was in a fight. The bleeding was coming a lot from his knuckles, but it turned out it was because they stepped on his hands."

Another eyewitness, who had a food truck situated at the festival, shared to ABC 6 his accounts of the incident, "Total chaos, like out of a movie. They took off, [and] the cops responded immediately. They cornered this off and made it a crime scene."

"People thought it was fireworks until they realized that it wasn't," said another food truck owner interviewed by ABC 6.

The Show Must Go On

Despite local law enforcement's reassurances that the incident was an isolated case, and Musikfest is set to resume at noon, many people are still petrified. 

"I've been here from the inception of Musikfest, and it was always a great festival to go to, but in recent years, I haven't gone as much as usual only because of the violence," said a Bethlehem citizen to ABC 6.

The initial eyewitness, however, shared that they are still willing to attend the resumption of the festival, "All the event planners and the volunteers do such a great job and with the amount of people that were there, you know, something's bound to happen in my opinion."

 "With the way that the police responded so swiftly and really secured the area that was impressive. I feel safe going back. I will absolutely return with my family."

"I don't want this to put a damper or shed a bad light on Musikfest for the future. It's a great event," they added.

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