Public Safety

Prosecutors drop charges against man arrested in Toledo festival shooting that wounded 12

Toledo, Ohio • October 30, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: a county courthouse exterior in a small American city on an overcast autumn day

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Lucas County prosecutors dropped all charges Friday against Eljay Crisp-Carr, 20, who spent about five months in jail over the shooting at Toledo's Old West End Festival that wounded 12 people — a dramatic reversal in one of the summer's most serious cases in the city.

Crisp-Carr had faced more than 50 felony charges connected to the June 6 shooting, including 25 counts of attempted murder, along with felonious assault, gang activity and firearms-related charges, according to the Associated Press and Guardian reporting. At a hearing Friday before Judge Lori Olender of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, prosecutors asked for the charges to be dismissed, and the judge granted the request.

The dismissal was made without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could bring charges against Crisp-Carr again if the evidence changes. For now, he is a free man after months behind bars awaiting trial.

Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia Bates cited "new and developing evidence" in a statement Friday. Prosecutors said that in September they had informed Crisp-Carr's attorney of discovery that may support his defense. Crisp-Carr's attorney had long said police arrested the wrong man, and his defense argued he was not even at the festival when the shooting took place, according to local station WTVG.

The gunfire broke out June 6 during the Old West End Festival in Toledo, at a park filled with tents, music and food trucks in a neighborhood of Victorian homes. Police said a fight between rival groups escalated into two people shooting at each other, although neither of the people exchanging fire was among the wounded. Twelve people were injured, and festival organizers canceled the event's second day.

The investigation is not over. Bates said the Toledo Police Department continues its investigation, and that both the department and her office "remain committed to following the evidence and getting it right." Another man charged in the shooting remains in jail and is scheduled to be back in court on November 9, the Associated Press reported.

Sources: The Associated Press (Oct 30, 2026); The Guardian, as reported by World Right Now (Oct 30, 2026); WTVG, as cited by The Guardian (Oct 30, 2026); Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia Bates, statement (Oct 30, 2026).