Last night at Christmas in the Park, the City of Mesquite experienced a large number of older teenagers loitering around Westlake Park. Due to the vast experience of the City's special event staff, additional Mesquite police officers were already in the park to assist with crowd control on Saturday night. Around 9:30 p.m. staff started the process to clear some of these teens from the park. The police officers began asking attendees to move to the exit. At some point during this process, a large group started running through the parking lot. A few minutes after this, gun shots were fired outside of the event area and park. Mesquite police officers working the event and traffic control were able to quickly and effectively respond to this incident within seconds. There were no major issues inside the park during the event. The Mesquite police officers inside the park provided a visible presence and kept order. Assistant City Manager/Director of Parks & Recreation Cliff Keheley said, "I want to commend all City staff and volunteers for their efforts. Due to the professionalism of City staff and the dedication of our volunteers, this was our most successful event ever. All three nights exceeded previous years attendance figures and our vendors were very pleased with the turnout. We will continue our commitment to the community to provide affordable, safe, family-focused events and programs for everyone to enjoy."