EDMOND, Oklahoma (AP) — A fight touched off a shooting at a weekend party crowded with young adults at an Oklahoma park, leaving 23 people with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, including one who was gravely hurt, police said Tuesday.
So far, no one has been arrested in Sunday night's shooting, but investigators have information that leads them to believe there's no ongoing danger to the public, said Sgt. James Hamm, a spokesperson for the police in Edmond.
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Police talks to two guys at the entrance to Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. who are wanting to get their belongings from the campground on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
A view of the pavilion where shootings took place inside Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 a day after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Jeremiah Braxton, who was at the party, talks to the media at the entrance to Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Edmond fire crews enter Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
The shooting broke out at a picnic pavilion alongside Arcadia Lake, a popular boating, fishing and swimming spot just north of Oklahoma City.
The party had been promoted across social media, drawing a large crowd of mostly young adults, police said.
The shooting began just as officers were responding to a noise complaint about the party, Hamm said.
Multiple groups were at the party, and the shooting happened after a fight broke out, he said. One person who was shot remained in critical condition Tuesday, Hamm said.
Three hospitals in the Oklahoma City area said Monday that they had treated 18 people from the party. One healthcare system said the victims ranged in age from 16 to 30.
Some of the victims suffered graze wounds and many were treated and released, he said. It's possible that more people were hit but didn't seek treatment, Hamm said.
Many of those shot were not involved in the fight and were “simply attending the party,” he said.
Police would not release any information about potential suspects, how many people may have fired shots or what types of weapons were used. Hamm said the department wanted to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
Edmond Mayor Mark Nash said Monday that the shooting took place at a public park where spaces can be reserved for large gatherings, but no reservation had been made.
Jeremiah Braxton, who was at the party, said two of his friends were among those shot. He said everyone was eating, dancing and having a good time until a group of girls started arguing over boyfriends.
“It just started a whole bunch of chaos,” he said Monday.
Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed from Boise, Idaho.
Police talks to two guys at the entrance to Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. who are wanting to get their belongings from the campground on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
A view of the pavilion where shootings took place inside Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 a day after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Jeremiah Braxton, who was at the party, talks to the media at the entrance to Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Edmond fire crews enter Scissortail Campground at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla. on Monday, May 4, 2026 after a party shooting on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Vice President JD Vance landed in Iowa on Tuesday, marking his first visit since taking office to the state where Republicans in less than two years will cast the initial votes to pick their party’s next presidential nominee.
Vance, who is seen as one of the GOP’s strongest potential candidates for president in 2028, is making the trip to campaign on behalf of Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, who faces a competitive race to keep his Des Moines-area seat in the November midterms.
Vance, a former U.S. senator who represented Ohio and became vice president before the end of his term, departed Washington earlier Tuesday accompanied by one of his young sons. He stopped first in Cincinnati to vote in Ohio's primary elections and told reporters he was voting for Vivek Ramaswamy in the governor's race. Asked about U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who's running in a special election to serve out the remainder of Vance’s term, Vance said he thinks Husted's “going to do a great job” and has been “good for Ohio.”
His 6-year-old son, meanwhile, filled out a ballot for children, which the vice president showed to the poll workers when he cast his own ballot. “He voted for the Easter bunny over the tooth fairy,” he said of his son, who's also named Vivek.
Before arriving in Iowa, Vance also appeared in Oklahoma City to hold a fundraiser in his role as finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
But the visit to Iowa offers Vance an opportunity to test his reception before Iowa’s voters, whose leadoff caucuses give them an outsized role in determining the next presidential nominee. Campaigning for a local congressman in his role as the sitting vice president gives him an opening chance to make an impression on Iowa Republicans, seasoned evaluators of those who seek the nation’s highest office before the campaign begins in earnest.
Vance’s appearance comes days after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is also considered a possible 2028 candidate, spoke to a group of evangelical Christians who are influential in Iowa’s GOP contest.
Des Moines-based Jimmy Centers, a Republican political consultant, said the 2028 contest is “light-years away” but said the Republicans who hear Vance speak on Tuesday will be evaluating how he might measure up in an election for the White House.
“I certainly think, as of right now, Vice President Vance would probably be a straw-poll winner of Iowa Republicans for 2028. But I don’t think anyone is saying, ‘We won’t consider anybody else,’” Centers said.
Vance, who has not said whether he will run for the presidency in 2028, is scheduled to appear with Nunn at a manufacturing facility in Des Moines. His office did not comment on the trip's impact on Vance's political future.
The vice president’s visit follows a trip President Donald Trump made in January to tout the administration’s tax cuts, part of a string of stops they’re making this year on economic issues before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
But Vance’s visit comes when his own political prospects — and the message he’s expected to deliver on the economy — have been complicated by the war in Iran.
The vice president, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions, has seemed a reluctant defender of the 9-week-old war, for which Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp. Iowans, like much of the rest of the country, are grappling with higher gas prices because of the conflict. But the state’s farmers are also feeling the pinch of high fertilizer costs from the war and have been hurt by tariffs Trump has imposed.
While Iowa’s farmers have steadfastly supported the president, they have been looking to the White House for assurances that the current troubles won’t last.
Vance’s visit to Iowa was originally scheduled for last week, but the timing shifted because the House moved to pass a sweeping farm bill that Nunn was due to vote on.
The vice president also had been slated to appear last week at an Iowa State University event with Turning Point USA, but the organization said it was not able to reschedule the event with the university until the fall.
Kim Schmett, a longtime Iowa GOP activist, said the presidential cycle starts “deceptively slow.”
Republican figures testing the waters often drop by the Westside Conservative Club, which Schmett hosts, but he said it's still too far out from the caucuses, which are typically held in January of the presidential election year.
He said Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement “is very alive and going here” in Iowa, which would benefit Vance — as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also thought to be a potential candidate.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of MAGA support,” he said. “And Vice President Vance and Marco Rubio seem to be the recipients of where that is going at the moment.”
But Schmett cautioned, “It’s awfully, awfully early in the process.”
On the Democratic side, at least half a dozen presidential prospects have been making visits to the states with the earliest presidential primary contests, including recent visits to Iowa by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
Meanwhile, potential Republican presidential candidates “are treading very lightly,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant, who worked on Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think Republicans are going to be very reluctant to get in Trump’s way until Trump gives the green light for the campaign to start,” Conant said.
That means much of the groundwork to meet with donors or activists or recruit political staffers might happen slowly and subtly – for now.
After the midterms? Conant said: “It’ll be irresistible.”
Price reported from Washington.
Vice President JD Vance, alongside his son Vivek, votes at a polling location at St. Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church in the state's primary election, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Vance is stopping in Ohio to vote in the state's primary election before continuing on to Oklahoma and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance and his son Vivek, walk off Air Force Two upon arrival at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is stopping in Ohio to vote in the state's primary election before continuing on to Oklahoma and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance casts his ballot to vote at a polling location at St. Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church in the state's primary election, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Vance is stopping in Ohio to vote in the state's primary election before continuing on to Oklahoma and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance, alongside his son Vivek, votes at a polling location at St. Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church in the state's primary election, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Vance is stopping in Ohio to vote in the state's primary election before continuing on to Oklahoma and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is traveling to Ohio, Oklahoma, and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance arrives at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is stopping in Ohio to vote in the state's primary election before continuing on to Oklahoma and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is traveling to Ohio, Oklahoma, and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance and his son Vivek, are escorted as they walk to board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is traveling to Ohio, Oklahoma, and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance and his son Vivek, walk to board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Vance is traveling to Ohio, Oklahoma, and Iowa. (Roberto Schmidt /Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Vice President JD Vance speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, April 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
