One person is dead, as many as four others are injured, and a shooter remains on the run following an altercation during an Import Face-Off event at Ohio’s Dragway 42 Sunday afternoon.
According to Capt. Doug Hunter, of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, a man believed to have been under the influence and driving recklessly inside the raceway grounds was confronted after throwing gravel on a group of parked vehicles. The subject exited his truck and engaged the group, who had been yelling for him to curtail his unsafe driving. After a brief scuffle, the man pulled a loaded handgun and fired a number of rounds at the individuals. One person reportedly pulled their weapon and fired at the subject in self defense. Upwards of 20 rounds were exchanged before the altercation ended.
As many as six people were reportedly shot — four who self-transported to local medical facility for treatment of their wounds, and two others, who were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital with more serious injuries. One individual, believed to have been a bystander who was not directly involved in the shooting, was later pronounced dead.
The subject left the scene in another vehicle and remains on the run; the Wayne County Sheriff’s office has not released the identity of the shooter nor the deceased individual. One person, the individual who returned gunfire at the subject, was detained for questioning.
One eyewitness told Dragzine that she and two friends were leaving after the drag races were complete; as they were walking down the hill in the pit/parking area they came upon the crowd of people already gathered and loudly arguing. “My friend saw the man in the truck get jumped and she dragged us both to the side behind vehicles to the left. That’s when shots started going off. We continued to stay behind vehicles but luckily got behind a truck with a box trailer that was parked there. We heard quite a few shots fired off. The scene still wasn’t over but we managed to find someone to cover us as we ran to our car away from all of that so we could leave.”
The Import Face-Off event, a car show and drag race series, was scheduled to conclude at 6 p.m., and the altercation reportedly took place as participants and spectators were leaving the venue. Some 2,000 people were in attendance at the raceway on Sunday. This incident remains under investigation.
Photos courtesy Ashland County Pictures