The Circus Incident from my Childhood

I am finally vindicated. The facts are these:

1. Carrolltown is a small town north of Johnstown and Altoona, located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

2. Wayne Franzen founded the Franzen Brothers circus. He was killed during a performance in Carrolltown, PA on May 7, 1997 by a Bengal tiger. There are multiple accounts of the spelling of the tiger's name, including "Loo-Kah" and "Lucca".

3. Reports indicate that the circus performance during which Wayne Franzen was killed had an audience of roughly 200 people, including children and family members.

4. The Johnstown-Altoona area is serviced by television station WTAJ, a local NBC affiliate.

5. Season 8, episode 21 of NBC's situational comedy series Wings, "Oedipus Wrecks", had an original airdate of May 7, 1997.

6. The plot synopsis of "Oedipus Wrecks", as summarized by TV.com, is: "Brian is surprised to find out his new girlfriend, Emily has a son that is already in college. Further complications ensue when Casey takes a shine to the younger man. Meanwhile, Joe and Roy go to the circus: Joe to try and deal with his childhood trauma and Roy to demand an apology from the clown who humilated [sic] him in his act." (emphasis added)

Unsubstantiated personal account detail: I remember that WTAJ announced the incident in a scrolling "Breaking News" bar overlayed with their regularly scheduled programming. The alert aired during this exact episode of Wings. You can only imagine how often something like this happens in a lifetime.