'We thought it was firecrackers': 1 dead, 7 injured in Oklahoma festival shooting

TAFT, Okla. – Authorities said one person was killed and seven were injured early Sunday in a shooting that sent frantic people running for cover at an outdoor festival. 

Two juveniles were among those shot at the Memorial Day event near Taft, about 10 miles southeast of Tulsa, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Witnesses said an argument preceded the gunfire just after midnight, the agency said. No one has been arrested, it said.

"I am grateful for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation - Authorized Page’s swift response to assist local police and am confident in Oklahoma law enforcement's ability to bring justice to whoever is responsible for this deadly incident," Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt posted on Facebook. 

About 1,500 people attended the event in Taft, which usually has a population of just a few hundred people.

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“We heard a lot of shots and we thought it was firecrackers at first,” said Sylvia Wilson, an owner of Taft’s Boots Cafe, which was open at the time to serve a surge of visitors to the small town for the Memorial Day weekend gathering.

“Then people start running and ducking. And we were yelling at everyone … ‘Get down! Get down!” Wilson said to The Associated Press by telephone from the café on Sunday morning.

Members of the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office were in attendance and immediately began rendering aid, OSBI said.

The agency provided no other details including the conditions of those injured. The Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office referred the AP to OSBI for more information. A bureau spokeswoman has not responded to the AP’s calls.

Wilson estimated her café is about 100 feet from where the shooting broke out. She said law enforcement had been on the scene to help with security earlier and that officers reacted quickly to the shooting.

“We are upset,” Wilson said: “Everything is getting back to normal. … The danger has past.”

Wilson wondered whether a Memorial Day parade planned for Monday in Taft could be canceled because of the shooting, although she said she hadn’t received official word.