COLUMBUS, Ohio — The largest fireworks show in the Midwest has safeguards in place to keep crowds safe as it continues to attract hundreds of thousands of people.
Security vigilance for Red, White & Boom! comes on the heels of a shooting at Columbus' Bicentennial Park. Two teenage boys were shot near the park on Wednesday night at South Civic Center Drive and West Rich Street, according to the Columbus Division of Police.
CrimeTracker10 found three other shootings at or near the park in the last three years. On September 6, 2020, a man in his early 50s was shot and killed. On May 22, 2022, 16-year-old Olivia Kurtz was killed, and five others were injured. And on May 2, 2022, two teens were shot.
"It's a little unnerving and everything, you know, Columbus' downtown for a long time has been relatively kind of untouched in a way, but, you know, we've seen recently, especially over the last five, six years, seven years, things have gotten a little bit out of hand, especially with gun violence in our communities and everything," said Rashaad Harmon.
Harmon said the violence is a turn off.
"That was just something that scared off me and my family from coming down," he said.
Other families were undeterred by the violence.
"I feel like if we let the violence deter us, we'll be in the house all of the time," said Jeana Howard. "Even with the violence, I'll still come because I don't want my children to not be able to experience the things that I did as a child," she said.
Red, White, & Boom! is expected to draw a crowd of 500,000 people.