Gunshots At Lawton – Fort Sill Freedom Festival

All across the United States, big booms are the norm at any 4th of July celebration. But when the booms happen in the crowd well before the fireworks go off, panic erupts in the crowd, and your town is about to make Sunday headlines nationwide.

Report: Gunshots ring out in the crowd at the Lawton - Fort Sill Freedom Festival.

Dang it Lawton, this is why we can't have nice things...

There is a bit of confusion as to what actually happened, whether it was fireworks in the crowd or a shooting. Facebook is full of people who swear it was both, and the arguments are escalating like everything on social media does.

The Lawton Police Department hasn't yet released any details beyond it could have been one of those two things, or even both.

They have informed the media that they have one person in custody, but that doesn't present a clear picture either. Fireworks are just as unwanted within city limits as nice roads. Lighting them off, while not always enforced on the actual 4th of July, is strictly prohibited.

People are going to assume it was gunshots regardless. 

If you've seen some of the videos from Elmer Thomas Park, the incident was caught from several different angles. Well, not the actual incident, but you hear the commotion and cameras swing around to see the crowd fleeing off into the darkness.

With Lawton's enduring reputation, even if it was fireworks, nobody is going to believe it.

L-Town was once the most dangerous town in Oklahoma. A classic rough-and-tumble military town. So much so, when I started driving, Lawton was the only off-limits place on the drive from home to Hollis. We had total autonomy driving freedom through Enid, OKC, Altus, and everywhere in between, but Lawton was the shadowy place we weren't allowed to go.

Lawton really cleaned up its act in the 1990s, and by the time I moved here on a whim in the mid-2000s, it was any other small town in Oklahoma. Only with more fast food and pawn shops per capita than any other town in the world, probably.

While Lawton does have a few shootings every year, it's pretty on par with the average of a town of this size. Still, every single time it happens, the old Lawton reputation comes calling.

We likely won't know whether it was gunshots or fireworks in the crowd at the Lawton - Fort Sill Freedom Festival until the morning hours of Sunday, but regardless, it'll be used as an excuse for visitors to stay away for months to come. Odds are the national news will pickup this incomplete story by 9 AM.