9-07-2022 9:05am

Carnival Employee at Fair Died of Self-Inflicted Gun Shot, Police Believe

A 24-year-old woman found dead in her vehicle in the parking lot at the Saline Community Fair died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say. The death was reported at about 1 p.m., Friday.

Derrick Jackson, spokesperson for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, confirmed her death is believed to be suicide.

" On Friday just after 1 p.m., we we were called out to the Saline Fairgrounds for a possible suicide. After not reporting for work earlier in the day, staff located her deceased in her vehicle. When deputies arrived they discovered a 24-year-old woman deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Jackson said.

Archived scanner audio of Metro Dispatch showed the WSCO was dispatched to the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds shortly after 1 p.m. after someone called 911 to report a carnival employee shot herself in her car.

The woman, from South Bend, Ind., was found in a blue Saturn parked at the back of the grassy public parking lot.

It's unclear what time the gun was fired.

Scanner audio revealed emergency workers shielded the scene from the public arriving at the fair.

Saline Community Fair president Nancy Thelen said the fair board expressed its deepest sympathy to the friends and family coping with the loss of a loved one. Thelen said fair officials determined there was no threat to carnival staff, fair volunteers or patrons.