Water park pauses alcohol sales after unruly guests and fatal shooting in Tennessee
A Tennessee water park is pausing its alcohol sales following a fatal shooting and incidents involving unruly guests.
Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville, which is in eastern Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said in a statement to McClatchy News on Wednesday that it has voluntarily suspended all alcohol sales at the park for the remainder of the 2021 season.
“The safety of our employees, our loyal season pass holders and the other guests who visit our family water park is paramount,” Soaky Mountain’s general manager Dave Andrews said in the statement. “We exist to provide opportunities for our guests to have fun and make memories together.”
The park said in the statement that the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Sevierville Beer Commission support the decision to suspend alcohol sales.
The Tennessee ABC previously recommended that Soaky Mountain’s alcohol license be suspended, WATE reports.
The recommendation followed reports of numerous incidents involving intoxicated, unruly guests — many of which required police to respond to the park — and a shooting outside the park that left one person dead in late July, WVLT reported earlier this month.
In some of the incidents outlined in records obtained by WBIR, guests were charged after reportedly assaulting workers or other guests at the park.
Then, on July 31, a shooting erupted outside the park during an altercation, the Sevierville Police Department said.
Officers were called to the park around 8 p.m. and found two women who had been shot, police told The Charlotte Observer. One of the women, 24-year-old Kelsy Cook, was taken to a hospital in Knoxville, where she was pronounced dead. The other, 23-year-old Angie Russell, was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police later arrested 31-year-old Sarah Romine in the incident. Romine was charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault and “possession of a firearm while intoxicated,” police said.
Andrews said in a statement to McClatchy News at the time that Soaky Mountain management was “deeply saddened” by the shooting and “committed to our guests’ safety.”
The park said in the statement Wednesday that it’s working with the Tennessee ABC and Sevierville Beer Commission to “further enhance its alcohol-related policies and looks forward to an exciting, fun-filled 2022 season.”
“The isolated actions of a handful of individuals are not representative of the experiences of the other 300,000-plus guests,” the park’s statement said.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Water park pauses alcohol sales after unruly guests and fatal shooting in Tennessee."
