Musikfest was shut down late Saturday after an apparent shooting that Bethlehem police described as an “isolated incident” sent crowds scrambling.
Police converged on the area of Main and Lehigh streets, near Plaza Tropical, just before the festival was to close for the night at 11 p.m. FBI agents were also on scene.
Bethlehem police Chief Michelle Kott in a news release said the festival was shut down as a safety precaution.
“Law enforcement is on site and in control of the situation,” Kott said. “There is no known continuing threat to the public.”
Police did not release any details about what happened or how many people were involved. Kott said there is an active investigation and no further information will be released at this time.
On Sunday morning, the city announced that Musikfest would resume at noon. Scheduling updates are available via the Musikfest website or the Musikfest app.
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A woman named Christina, who did not want her last name used because of her role with a social media site, was visiting with family and friends from Warren County, New Jersey.
She was standing near the Wooden Match restaurant at 61 W. Lehigh St., when the incident occurred. They had just bought doughnuts for her daughter, 8, and a 10-year-old friend and were walking toward Plaza Tropical after getting lemonade at Festplatz.
“We were walking back toward Plaza Tropical but we turned our back for a second to look at something and we saw a stampede of people coming at us,” Christina said. “We tried to get as close to a tent as possible, but that just wasn’t enough. They were still coming directly at us. We were watching people fall and get stepped on. So we quickly grabbed the children and we threw them around a tent to protect them.”
Christina said she tried to find out what was going on.
“No one knew, they just saw everyone else running,” she said.
Christina said she helped a young man who was trampled.
“He got stepped on. I tried helping him up. He couldn’t catch his breath,” she said. “He was bleeding profusely on his hands, so I tried to help them as much as I could. I thought maybe he was in a fight. The bleeding was coming a lot from his knuckles but it turned out it was because they stepped on his hands.”
After the panic died down, and the man was able to leave, the group wanted to go back to the Wooden Match, but police quickly descended on the area and asked them to take a different route.
“We started heading back toward Plaza Tropical to get to my parents who were over by the Wooden Match, but the police came in pretty swiftly,” she said. “ … There was Bethlehem mounted and state police mounted … There were tons of police in the area trying to secure the area and get everyone out. So we had to walk a little bit and go around and up and around back to try to get to the Wooden Match to get to our vehicle and to find my parents who were separated from us.”
Christina’s parents were fine, but the extra 20 minutes to get back to them were tension filled, especially not knowing what caused the panic. She was relieved to hear the police call it an isolated incident.
“It’s scary not knowing what’s going on. But I’m glad that they’re saying it was an isolated incident,” she said, “and, you know, when panic sets in, in a crowd, people disperse and it causes chaos. So that was a little scary, especially for the children.”
Christina’s daughter and the friend “didn’t take it too well.”
“They were having a great time up until that happened,” she said. “Obviously they were shaken up. They didn’t want to return today, but you know we explained things to them. And, you know, I’m sorry they had to learn this lesson so early in life, but at least they have a little understanding on how to handle a situation like that and what to do. So yeah, they’re a little…
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