August 13, 2023
COURTESY/CLEMENTON SPLASH WORLD WEBSITE
A shooting in the parking lot of Clementon Amusement and Splash World on Saturday night led to the arrest of a Philadelphia resident.
Gunshots rang out in a somewhat unexpected place on Saturday night: a Camden County water park. Clementon Park & Splash World was still open for business when a man involved in an argument at the popular South Jersey amusement park allegedly opened fire.
Twenty-four year-old Quahee Eaton-Kennedy was arrested after police were called in response to a report of gunshots being heard outside the water park, authorities told 6 ABC. After intervening in a fight involving multiple people in the parking lot, police located and apprehended Eaton-Kenney.
The 24-year-old Philadelphia resident was charged with second degree possession of a weapon, police said. Nobody was hurt in the incident, which occurred just before 8 p.m. on Saturday night about an hour before the water park was scheduled to close for the day.
The shooting follows a series of violent episodes in southern New Jersey reportedly involving suspects from Philadelphia, which led one Camden County official to make controversial remarks condemning “thugs and criminals and gun-bearing freaks”in early July. Camden County Commissioner Louis Cappelli Jr. made the comments after a 6-year-old girl was shot during a July Fourth fireworks display in Camden that allegedly involved an assailant from Philly.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Katherine-Gilmore Richardson criticized the comments as “asinine” and demanded an apology from the New Jersey official. Cappelli declined to apologize.
