Deadly Oklahoma gun attack adds to bloodshed in US

One person was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting at an outdoor festival early on Sunday near Tulsa in the US state of Oklahoma, authorities said.

The shooting took place at an annual Memorial Day event with 1,500 people attending at the Old City Square in Taft, about 16 kilometers from Tulsa, local media reported. Two teenagers were among the injured, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

An arrest warrant was issued for Skyler Buckner and he turned himself into the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office on Sunday afternoon, said the bureau. The OSBI said those shot at the Memorial Day event in Taft ranged in age from 9 to 56.

A 39-year-old woman was killed. The injuries of those wounded were considered non-life-threatening.

The OSBI had earlier said two juveniles were injured in the shooting, but said on Sunday afternoon that only one juvenile was injured.

Witnesses said an argument preceded the gunfire just after midnight, the agency said.

"We heard a lot of shots and we thought it was firecrackers at first," said Sylvia Wilson, an owner of Taft's Boots Cafe, which was open at the time to serve a surge of visitors to the small town for the gathering.

"Then, people start running and ducking. And we were yelling at everyone…'Get down! Get down!'" Wilson told The Associated Press by telephone from the cafe on Sunday morning.

About 1,500 people attended the event in Taft, which usually has a population of just a few hundred people. Members of the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office were in attendance and immediately began rendering aid, the OSBI said.

"Bullets were literally flying everywhere," Jasmayne Hill, who was working at a food truck during the event, told the Tulsa World newspaper.

Buckner was being held on Sunday in Muskogee County jail. Jail records did not have an attorney listed for him.

More than 17,000 people have died in gun-related episodes across the United States over the past five months, including about 640 children and teenagers.

Agencies - Xinhua