Shooting interrupts refugee group’s back-to-school event “Family Fun Day” in Lewiston

According to Lewiston police, a back-to-school event with more than 300 attendees at McGraw Park in Lewiston on Friday was interrupted by a male teenager who fired a gun into the air and into the ground.

[RELATED: 17-year-old Dead at Public Housing Complex in One of Three Weekend Shootings in Lewiston…]

Lewiston police said they responded to a shooting incident in McGraw Park shortly before 7 p.m. Friday.

Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS), a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization based in Lewiston, was hosting its third annual back-to-school “Family Fun Day” event at the park at the time.

When they arrived at the park, police said, it was filled with hundreds of people, mostly children receiving school supplies for the new school year.

Witnesses told police that a male teenager “appeared and began shooting into the air and at the ground,” police said.

A vehicle was hit by the gunfire, but no one was injured in the shooting.

Police said a woman was treated at the scene for an asthma attack.

In a statement on social media on Saturday, MEIRS executive director Rilwan Osman said the “Family Fun Day” event aimed to “bring diverse parents and children together” and that before the shooting it “went wonderfully, with over 300 participants enjoying food, games and activities.”

While the Lewiston police statement indicates that the shooting occurred in the park, Osman claimed that the gunshots were heard “far from McGraw Park,” where the event was taking place, and that “none of the attendees at our event were involved.”

“We are disappointed that this joyous evening was disrupted, especially with so many families in attendance,” Osman wrote.

“Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services is actively working with other organizations to provide awareness, education and support to our youth and their parents to reduce gun violence in our community,” he wrote, thanking Lewiston police for their “quick and professional response.”

About 15 minutes after arriving at McGraw Park, Lewiston Police responded to additional reported shots fired in the area of ​​Pine and Horton Streets.

Witnesses at the scene told police the shots “could have come from a vehicle or from juveniles who were in the area.”

No injuries or damage were reported from the second firearm incident, and investigations into both incidents are ongoing, police said.

This weekend's shootings are the latest in a series of shootings that have occurred in Lewiston this summer.

Just last week, a young man was injured in a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Pine and Jefferson Streets in Lewiston, and last month, a 17-year-old man working as a youth intern for MEIRS was killed in a shooting at a public housing complex in Lewiston.