Victim identified in fatal Halloween shooting
Authorities seek videos from party that left one dead and nine injured
TEXARKANA, TEXAS – The victim who died in Saturday night’s mass shooting at a Halloween party inside Octavia’s Event Center has been identified as Javon Gooden, 20, of Texarkana, Texas, according to police.
The nine other shooting victims included both males and females, ranging in age from 15 to 23 years old. None of those injuries are thought to be life threatening.
Police here do not believe they have ever worked a shooting with so many victims.
“This was just an extraordinary event. I have never seen anything like this here. We are very fortunate that this was not worse than it was and that all of the other victims should recover,” Vaughn said.
Police are now seeking video or photographs that were made inside the venue during during — or just prior to — the shooting, said Shawn Vaughn, spokesman for Texarkana Texas Police Department.
We are “still trying to piece together what happened,” Vaughn said Monday. TTPD can be contacted at 903-798-3116.
Keuntae McElroy, 21, of Texarkana, Arkansas was arrested Sunday on an aggravated assault charge and is being held in the Bi-State jail. Bond has been set at $150,000. Detectives are currently preparing probable cause affidavits to obtain additional arrest warrants for McElroy for murder and nine additional charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Officers responded at 11:56 p.m. Saturday to several 911 calls reporting multiple people having been shot at the party venue in the 2300 block of Texas Boulevard.
Upon arrival, they encountered a large number of people running from the building and several inside suffering from gunshot wounds.
The scene was extremely chaotic, Vaughn said.
“We are really proud of everyone on shift for staying as calm as they did,” he said.
Other agencies including Texarkana Arkansas Police Department, Bowie County Sheriff’s Office and Wake Village Police Department also responded to the scene.
“All of the officers were called to a terrible, chaotic environment and they didn’t know if the threat was still there,” Vaughn said. “But they did an extraordinary job of getting everybody calmed down enough to get LifeNet in there.”
The injured were transported to Wadley Regional Medical Center and Christus St. Michael Hospital by ambulance, police unit, and private vehicle. Gooden died a short time later at Christus St. Michael.
Detectives believed that McElroy was inside the building for a period of time before the shooting. The preliminary investigation indicated that the shooting may have been the result of some type of disturbance among some of the party goers. It is estimated that there were at least a couple hundred people in the venue when the shootings occurred. There was also live music inside the event center and detectives are hoping that photos or videos were taken that could help with the investigation.