Updated

Updated · News 5 Cleveland WEWS · Sep 7

Amy Acton Marches in Cleveland's 54th Labor Day Parade After Armed Attack Attempt

Updated

Updated · News 5 Cleveland WEWS · Sep 7

Amy Acton Marches in Cleveland's 54th Labor Day Parade After Armed Attack Attempt

Q: How did an armed individual manage to bypass initial security protocols at a crowded public fair?

He appears to have gotten close because this was an open, crowded public fair setting rather than a tightly screened perimeter. Reports say Patrick Havas walked into the Mahoning County Democratic Party tent at the Canfield Fair around 2:30 p.m. carrying a cellphone and began recording Acton as she spoke. In that kind of fair environment, people were moving through the area in close proximity, which allowed him to blend into the crowd before drawing attention. Authorities say he then forced his way through attendees, knocking multiple people down as he moved toward Acton. The available reporting does not indicate that he passed through a weapon detector or formal checkpoint immediately before entering the tent. Investigators later recovered two handguns and brass knuckles, but officials said the weapons were not brandished or removed, which likely reduced the chance of immediate detection in a dense crowd. The key point is that the initial vulnerability appears to have been access, not a failure to respond once he became aggressive. Acton’s security detail, including Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, confronted him as he pushed forward, and Canfield police took him into custody. So, based on the public record so far, he bypassed “initial security” mainly by entering a loosely controlled public space as an ordinary attendee and only triggered intervention once his behavior turned physical.

3 articles · Updated · News 5 Cleveland WEWS · Sep 7

One day after an armed man forced through a crowd and lunged at her at the Canfield Fair, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton marched in Cleveland’s 54th Annual Labor Day Parade and helped during a medical emergency.
Acton used the appearance to signal her campaign would continue, thanking first responders and saying the attack would not deter her: “I’m in for this fight.”
Heightened security surrounded the parade as hundreds lined the route, with Rep. Shontel Brown saying the added measures were necessary and insisting, “We will not be intimidated.”
Sherrod Brown and Acton’s Republican rival Vivek Ramaswamy both condemned political violence, with Ramaswamy saying leaders in both parties must model civil discourse and open debate.