15-Year-Old Charged In Juneteenth Shooting

Columbus, OH — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the Juneteenth shooting that took place on Saturday night.

The Juneteenth shooting happened at a park just outside of downtown Columbus during the Juneteenth Festival around 7 p.m.

Police believe that two other teens who were arrested along with the 15-year-old may have been involved in the shooting as well.

While the 15-year-old is still in police custody, the 10-year-old who had been shot in the leg is reported to be in stable condition at a Columbus hospital.

The Juneteenth shooting is only one of many shootings that have taken place over this past weekend. There were reported shootings in Milwaukee late Saturday night, hours after the Juneteenth shooting. The two events were not related.

ABC6 reported that police are asking for any video that may have been taken of Juneteenth shooting.

So what is Juneteenth? It is a three-day event, also known as Emancipation or Freedom Day. The event commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the US.

“The name is a portmanteau of “June” and “nineteenth,” the date in 1865 that Texas slaves learned the Emancipation Proclamation declared their freedom.”

After the shooting Saturday night, police decided to shut down the festival early, meaning that the event wouldn’t continue on as planned into Sunday.

One adult told reporters that she was upset that some teens were able to ruin “one of America’s oldest celebrations.”

“Every year they get out here and show out. Now we’re not going to have anything we can do that represents the African-American community and it’s a disgrace.”

One vendor, Carol Jefferson, told the Examinerthat this was not only her first year at the festival, but it would be her last.

Jefferson told reporters that she had lost her son to gun violence, and now she had lost her business at the festival and her sense of community on Saturday to gun violence.

Jefferson told reporters, “It just has to stop. I don’t know what it’s going to take but it just has to stop.”

Many had come out to enjoy the festivities, and many where very disappointed to see gun violence at the Juneteenth shooting ruin such a time of celebration.