State Fair of Texas shooting: Security company stands by its sensors: 'It's 100%'
DALLAS - The company that brought new weapons detection scanners to the State Fair of Texas is standing by its equipment in the wake of the shooting last weekend.
This is the first year ‘Opengate’ scanners have been used at fair entrances. State fair officials now say the gunman did not have a license to carry, so it’s still unclear how he brought a gun in.
Dubbed ‘revolutionary,’ state fair officials showed off new Opengate scanners ahead of this year’s opening.
Unlike a traditional metal detector, it works by ignoring things like phones or keys. It’s designed specifically to detect weapons.
But what’s still unclear is whether 22-year-old Cameron Turner walked through one when he entered the fair Saturday. Police say he shot and injured three people in the food court area.
State Fair of Texas shooting suspect told police he felt threatened, went into 'survival mode,' documents say
Arrest affidavits obtained by FOX 4 are shedding new light on what happened leading up to the shooting at the State Fair of Texas that injured three people over the weekend.
The incident sparked chaos as thousands of people fled the fair or took cover.
Genaro Cavazos runs the company, GXC Inc, that provides the fair the Opengate scanners.
"The only thing I am absolutely certain of is the weapon that was allegedly used and confiscated when the subject was arrested. That weapon will be detected 100% of the time if it's brought through that detector," he said.
The technology is already in use at major sports venues. And in schools, it’s manufactured by the company, Ceia, in Italy.
Cavazos says it meets high, third-party standards.
"So it's not Ceia themselves saying their detectors are top of the line, it's a third-party organization that has said, ‘If you meet our bar, then we'll assign you with the standard.’ And Ceia has done that."
Fair officials say they do not collect data on how many times weapons have been detected going through open gate.
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GXS is just one part of the security infrastructure at the fair. It does not staff the entrances.
The fair says the company, Andy Frain Services, provides private security for that.
The company did not respond to FOX 4 Wednesday.
The fair says it and Dallas police are still investigating what went wrong.
"Is it your belief that this individual brought the gun in, circumvented or went around open gates?" asked FOX 4 Blake Hanson.
"So it is an active investigation. So I can't speak to the details or the fact finding that's been conducted thus far," Cavazos said.
According to an arrest affidavit, Turner told police he felt threatened by someone who approached him, which is why he fired. But at least in that document, he does not explain how he got the gun into the fairgrounds.