Parents share concerns about locked gates at Shawnee Sports Complex during nearby shooting

DUNBAR, W.Va. (WCHS) — Coaches, parents and players had to take cover while at the Shawnee Sports Complex on Sunday due to a nearby shooting on Smoot Ave. Parents who were there detailed the terrifying moment they heard the gun shots to Eyewitness News.

“There’s children running, throwing up, scared to death,” soccer parent Miranda said.

“You could just see like kids were lost and screaming for their mom and dad, and then there was also parents that were screaming looking for their kids,” soccer parent Sean Tierney said.

Both parents told Eyewitness News when they tried to run to safety they were met with locked gates and no communication from the complex about where to go.

“All you see are children running without parents and them screaming from the gate, run,” Miranda said. “Because, two parents had stayed and pulled a gap enough in the fence. You saw kids running and jumping over.”

“All the gates were locked so we were just pushing kids over the fence, but there was a ton of people that physically couldn’t do it or are elderly or there was moms carrying babies and people didn’t know where their kids were,” Tierney said.

The chaos leading to questions from parents about the locked gates. In a statement, the Kanawha County Commission said upon further review of the incident so far, two of the 26 gates were locked at the Shawnee Sports Complex. Eyewitness News asked Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango if changes will be made at the complex moving forward.

“I’m pulling all of the security footage. I’m going to make sure and look and see which one it was,” he said. “I think there are probably some systems we can change. You want to have security in the complex as well. You don’t want people sneaking through the back, and I don’t care about payment. But, I care about somebody sneaking through the back with a gun. And so, you want to be able to see them come through the front. And so, you’re kind of in a catch twenty-two.”

Parents said they hope change comes to the facility after this incident.

“I think there is a lot of trauma and a lot of healing that will need to come from this before people will feel safe,” Miranda said. “I think that moving forward and posting a statement about the safety and the changes that are being made and what we can expect will be wonderful for that facility.”

The Kanawha County Commission said it will be holding a debrief and after-action response review to see what improvements can be made.