Officials follow up on trail ride shooting

TYLER — In the wake of in incident at a Smith County trail ride that left five people wounded by gunfire, East Texas officials say they’re moving forward with efforts to help make such events safer in the future. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith led a news conference on the topic Friday. Going forward, officials say the Fire Marshal’s Office will be the original entity involved in this process. That pertains to the inspection of the event location to ensure it complies with rules and regulations such as making sure any food vendor is permitted by NET Health and that there are bathroom facilities available such as portable toilets.

Officials say they also want to make sure there is no non-mowed dead grass at the site, which they say creates an enormous fuel load should a fire occur; and make sure there is suitable and safe egress and ingress for emergency vehicles should a life safety event occur. That’s just part of the plan currently being developed. Also, we’re told the most critical victim of these shootings is still in the hospital in serious but stable condition.