This has turned into another one of those mystery events where what would normally be headlines that screamed across national media for days catches only a few carefully phrased blurbs and slinks quietly away, never to be mentioned again.
It's a pattern that anyone can instantly recognize.
It started with what's become known as an organized 'hangout,' scheduled for last Sunday evening at an Arcadia Lake campground, which is outside of Edmond, Oklahoma.
The participants are always described as 'youths' or 'young people.'
There was a poster for the event circulated on Instagram. All these are coordinated through social media channels. It makes them very fluid and flexible in case conditions change. Perhaps where they'd planned the gathering is no longer welcoming or available, and the venue needs to change in a snap. Well, social media gives them the ability to instantly do so and get word out.
Which is apparently what happened here, as you can see, there is a 'location changed' notice at the bottom of the poster.
The organizers did not have a reservation or permit for the facility.
Scissortail Campgrounds on Arcadia Lake seems to be, from what I can find, a city-owned recreational area that has a number of outdoor amenities available.
- Camping
- Fee
- Pavilions
- Playground
- Restroom
- RV Hookup
- Water Fountain
So, 'youths' started flooding the campground's pavilion area and things began hoppin'.
Mind you, there are people who live in the area, as well as folks camping in the recreational area itself, as all this is happening.
Just before nine Sunday night, a call complaining about 'high schoolers' and 'loud music' at the lake came into the Edmond police dispatch, and a patrol car went out to check on it.
Scanner radio traffic of the Lake Arcadia mass shooting in Edmond, Oklahoma
— Robert D in Tulsa - #FindYourPeace (@RobertDinTulsa) May 4, 2026
🚨🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🚨
This is just one of at least 7 channels that I found, each with up to 2.5 hours of info.
Let me know if you all want more:
Edmond PD A - You just heard that one.
Edmond PD B
Edmond PD TAC1… pic.twitter.com/EA1X1Kzamm
While they were on their way, reports of 'shots fired' came in.
A fight between two females over boyfriends triggered a mass reaction among the party-goers that quickly turned violent.
...“We all came out here to have a good time...just trying to have a little Sunday fun day,” Triplet said. “It just ended up in chaos out of nowhere, all because of a fight.”
Triplet said the initial fight involved two people and drew attention from nearby groups.
“I just know it was two girls that had gotten into an altercation,” Triplet said. “Once you see them fighting...you just know to move around a little bit.”
Triplet said he is not sure what triggered the gunfire, but believes panic spread quickly through the crowd.
“Once the fight broke out, everybody started running,” he said. “And once everybody started running, that’s when people started to panic... next thing you know, you just hear shots ring out.”
Unbelievable stuff from the 'youths' attending, many of whom seemed to have brought an awful lot of firepower with them for a...how did the one kid describe it?
Oh, yeah. 'Simple get-together.'
...Witness Armani Ikese told News 9 he heard multiple rounds of gunfire and described the initial shots as rapid.
“It sounded like it was automatic,” Ikese said.
Ikese said he believed there was more than one shooter, with gunfire coming from different directions.
“There were some people shooting from a car, and then people at the party... trying to shoot back to defend the people that they were with,” Ikese said.
My high school gatherings were almost as big but nowhere near as noisy.
One report claims two gunmen in ski masks appeared and opened fire.
...Two men wearing ski masks opened fire, injuring more than a dozen people, police said.
Police showed up in force and brought ambulances, which were badly needed.
🚨#BREAKING: At this time numerous emergency crews are responding to a mass shooting at a campground with dozens of people injured
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 4, 2026
đź“Ś#Edmond | #Oklahoma
At this time, numerous emergency crews are rushing to the scene of a reported mass shooting at a campground in Edmond,… pic.twitter.com/M32hfI7VP0
By the time they finally got an accurate injury head count, there were 23 gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and one young woman was in critical condition, who had a gunshot wound to the head. Victims ranged in age from 16 to 30.
I mean, what are 30-year-olds doing at high school parties, but that's a question for another post.
Naturally, no arrests and no word on suspects.
Naturally.
A fight touched off a shooting at a weekend party crowded with young adults at an Oklahoma campground, 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.
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.
Tragically, the police announced on Tuesday that the young woman in critical condition, a high school senior, had died.
An 18-year-old woman, who spent two days fighting for her life in a hospital, died after she was shot at Arcadia Lake when a fight broke out at a party Sunday night.
Avianna Smith-Gray was in critical condition after the shooting. On Tuesday evening, the Edmond Police Department confirmed that the only victim in critical condition had died.
As of last night, the Edmond police had still not arrested anyone.
Contrary to the mayor's assertion that these things are 'rare,' which might be true as far as the mass shooting part of it goes, it doesn't mean the police in Edmond aren't familiar with these 'hangouts,' 'get-togethers,' or whatever they call them for the next event.
One local woman said her Airbnb had a street filled with 250 people the month before, and police never came, even with repeated calls for help from residents.
“Takeover parties” are happening in Edmond:
— Conspiracy Queen🔥 (@CTheoryHunter) May 4, 2026
“They had a party in my Airbnb a month ago. I called the cops multiple times & they didn't do much. There were 250 people in the street with guns. If the cops would have done more maybe people wouldn't have been shot last night..” pic.twitter.com/SdVIouWbZa
There are additional graduation-themed events being advertised across the local Instagram accounts. One Airbnb owner who had been surreptitiously booked found out who and why, and angrily cancelled the reservation, even as they threatened organizers to get the address off of the event's media.
@EdmondPD @Airbnb @instagram watch out for the group "Sunday funday"
— Conspiracy Queen🔥 (@CTheoryHunter) May 4, 2026
Apparently the Arcadia party was posted from that group & they are planing another party May 22nd:
“it was an organized party they were calling "Sunday funday". They had a flyer that was posted earlier” pic.twitter.com/9PTTa6SM41
The Edmond police have a real problem on their hands, but this is not an isolated trend.
We recently had a young man from Mobile, Alabama, advertising an Instagram 'get-together' on Pensacola Beach to various Mobile schools and colleges, but when word got out on Facebook, woof.
The Escambia County Sheriff's Department and the Beach Authority themselves, not to mention all the various citizens' Facebook groups, crawled over him unmercifully and everyone who answered affirmatively in his comments.
The next thing you knew, he had a 'Perhaps you misunderstood my intentions' video up, and we haven't heard much about it since.
Proactive is best.
But it does beg the question about what constitutes a 'mass shooting' for the media. To their credit,m NBC's report was brief but concise.
Not the Bee had a rundown of other media outlets' reactions, and they all revolved around 'youths.'
Just 'youths' at a 'lake' or 'lakeside party.'
As they quoted the New York Times, they tapped into what was missing from the stories.
..."A crowd of young people ... having a party."
I'm sure that accountability and an honest discussion about the culture around these parties are coming from the media anytime now!!!
There was a mass shooting at an Oklahoma campground this weekend and the media isn't giving a lot of details for some reasonhttps://t.co/78D5VMkado
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) May 4, 2026
This is how the NYT ended their short article on the mass shooting.
...“This is obviously a very terrifying situation,” an Edmond police spokeswoman, Emily Ward, said at the news conference late Sunday.
Arcadia Lake is a large recreational area on the Deep Fork River. Its shores are full of picnic areas, beaches and docks for water sports.
It's so terrifying, and, yeah - it is. Some of those poor campers nearby talked about having to cower on the floor of their tents, praying bullets would fly through and not hit them.
No one should have to worry about that.
The media always want to talk about guns, until it's someone using them that they don't want to talk about.
