He says, “I was shocked to find out there was a shooting. A shooting is definitely scary, but I think it’s a bad example of what downtown is. Unfortunately, things like that do happen.”
Since Valley News Live first reported on the shooting, floods of social media comments came in from community members expressing fears of the downtown area.
Users wrote, “Downtown Fargo is not safe anymore,” and, “They keep telling us it’s a safe neighborhood while bodies are dropping.”
Others have even gone as far as comparing downtown from previous decades, saying, “It never has been safe, I lived in Fargo in the 80’s and we didn’t go downtown after dark.”
Fargo Police Chief, Dave Zibolski, addressed these concerns in a press conference today, August 4, highlighting the safety of downtown.
He said, “You can’t apply one catastrophic day to the overall safety of a community. This community is extremely safe, for a city this size, it’s extremely safe, but we do have incidents just like every other city does.”
A mindset similiar to these downtown business owners.
Estin says incidents like these shouldn’t deter you from experiencing what downtown Fargo has to offer.
“Downtown seems safe to me. We have so many great stores down here and a great community. Fargo is such a good representation of North Dakota,” he explains.
A friendly reminder that these local shops are here for you.
He adds, “I would do everything in my power to show people it’s safe. It’s a great place to discover new foods and make new friends.”
Fargo Police say this is a very active, and ongoing investigation.
