Police find gun, video after West Des Moines Carnival gunfire

(West Des Moines, IA) -- Police say they are still putting together details after a shooting at the Valley West Mall in carnival last night in West Des Moines.

"The estimate is there was up to a thousand people at the carnival," says West Des Moines Police Sergeant Jason Bryan. He tells WHO Radio News two fights broke out at the carnival. That's when a man pulled a gun and fired several shots into the air.

"When you have that many people running in all directions, it's chaos because people are running in screaming," says Bryan. Early reports from the shooting indicated a person was trampled by the crowd, but Bryan says that's not the case.

"The initial indication was that we thought he'd been trampled," says Bryan. "But, his friends were like, 'No, no, he got beat up by some other individuals.'"

West Des Moines Police say they haven't yet arrested the suspect who fired shots at the carnival, but they do have him on video. Police may even have his fingerprints too.

"We have different videos and with the officer's body camera video, we have a description of this person," says Bryan. "We did recover a firearm down in the ditch by the freeway. The fanny pack that it was found in matches the description that we got of the shooter. We're confident that we've recovered the firearm that was used."

One juvenile is facing charges of assault and interference with official acts.


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