Teen charged in shooting near O’Fallon’s City Fest

A 14-year-old suspect in a weekend shooting near the O’Fallon City Fest was charged Tuesday, the O’Fallon Police Department announced.

The teenager was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, police said. Both charges are felonies.

“Since this is a case involving a juvenile, we are not at liberty to disclose any personal information of the defendant including name, photograph, date of birth, address etc.,” the department said in a news release.

The news release also doesn’t state whether the teenager is still being held or has been released.

Police Chief Kirk Brueggeman previously had said a 14-year-old from Cahokia Heights was the shooter.

Police had said a charge was pending in the St. Clair County state’s attorney’s office related to shots fired at 800 S. Lincoln Ave. at 7:53 p.m. Saturday. Five juveniles, ages 12 to 15 and all from out of town, were apprehended nearby on Wellesley.

This shooting occurred near Community Park, where the City Fest event was being staged.

No gunshot victims have been reported.

Overall, 17 juveniles were arrested on charges of battery and disorderly conduct at or near Community Park on Friday and Saturday.

The violence from the weekend festival has raised questions about the future of City Fest.

“This year’s City Fest has shown that nostalgia for how events were once held cannot outweigh the responsibility of keeping our community safe. Public safety must always come first, and moving forward, every festival or gathering will be planned with that priority at the forefront,” Mayor Eric Van Hook said in a statement Monday.

Describing the volume and frequency of disturbances as “severe,” Van Hook said there were at least nine separate fights on festival grounds and at nearby businesses.

Other community festivals in the metro-east have had to either close early or cancel events due to violence and disturbances.

These include:

• St. Nicholas Catholic Church in O’Fallon canceled the 2026 NickFest after police were called to the festival in May when fights were reported.
• Organizers of the Midwest WingFest said this year’s festival was canceled after they dealt with fights and people trying to illegally gain entry at its St. Clair Square venue in Fairview Heights last year.
• Police ended Belleville Oktoberfest earlier than its official closing time last year due to a disturbance involving juveniles who were “unruly and disorderly.” More than 100 juveniles were involved in the disturbance at Oktoberfest. In 2022, a “stampede” of about 300 teenagers ran through the Belleville Oktoberfest and frightened festival goers when they screamed someone had been shot, police said.