One of the victims of last year’s shooting at the State Fair of Texas is suing the alleged gunman and the companies in charge of securing the fair.
Andrea Araujo was working as part of a cleaning crew at the fair when she was shot Oct. 14, according to the lawsuit. The 41-year-old and her husband Pedro Ortega are seeking more than $1 million in damages.
The suit alleges Andy Frain Services' security screening checkpoint failed to prevent Cameron Turner from entering fairgrounds with the pistol he’s accused of using to shoot three people. The couple also alleges the screening devices GXC Inc. provided failed to detect the weapon on Turner and alert personnel.
Attorneys with Andy Frain Services and GXC Inc. could not immediately be reached for comment.
The couple's attorney, Marc Lenahan, said Araujo still has bullet fragments lodged in her body from the shooting. He said the the lawsuit seeks to prove Turner wasn't the only party at fault.
"Young people get in fights and young people make bad decisions, and that's why we paid security to keep guns out of the place, and they didn't do it," Lenahan said.
Turner is charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place. His attorney was not immediately available for comment.
State Fair staff said they weren't implementing any policy changes in light of the shooting and said they had confidence in their safety plans in partnership with the Dallas Police Department.
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