Fans at a Washington Nationals baseball game ran for cover Saturday night after three people were shot just outside the stadium's thir...
Fans at a Washington Nationals baseball game ran for cover Saturday night after three people were shot just outside the stadium's third base gate when gunmen in two cars exchanged fire.
The Nationals were in the sixth inning of a game against the San Diego Padres, and players were walking off the field in between innings when several gunshots rang out in rapid succession, sparking fears of a mass shooting in the stadium.
Fans poured out onto the field to find cover and flipped tables in a bar to hide behind while players frantically searched for family members in the stands.
'It was just a chaotic scene,' umpire crew chief Mark Carlson told The Associated Press. 'We heard what sounded like rapid gunfire. We didn’t know where it was coming from.'
In the shooting that ended up being outside the stadium, one of the victims - a woman - was an innocent bystander. She was caught in the crossfire when the gunmen opened fire at each other, Ashan Benedict, the Metropolitan Police Department’s executive assistant police chief, said during a Saturday night press conference.
The victim's injuries are not considered life threatening, Benedict said.
The other two people who were shot were in the same car and walked into area hospitals, where they're being questioned by police. DC police are also looking for the second car.
DC Police originally said there were two victims taken to the hospital and two walked into area hospitals for gunshot wounds, but they updated the number to three three victims during the press conference.
Fans pour out onto the field after hearing gunshots outside the stadium
Fans jump into a camera well after hearing gunfire from outside the stadium, during a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington
Fans were being told to exit Nationals park through the centerfield and rightfield exits. The shooting happened outside the third base gate, according to police
Fans take cover wherever they could. In the background, the scoreboard is urging fans to leave the stadium through the centerfield and rightfield exits
There's a heavy police presence in the area around the stadium
DC Police and other law enforcement agencies are on scene of a shooting outside of Nationals park in DC.
Jennifer Jacobs, a senior White House reporter for Bloomberg News, was at the game and tweeted, '1st sign of trouble was when everyone in and around section 115 suddenly stood up, staring west toward main concourses. Word quickly spread about “gunshots.” The ballplayers headed off field.'
She also shared videos on Twitter showing fans and employees in a bar running for safety and toppling over tables to take cover.
The game was officially suspended and is scheduled to resume Sunday afternoon at 1:05pm. The Padres were up 8 to 4 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
Sunday's originally scheduled game will be played 25 to 45 minutes after the first game is completed. Both games will be nine-inning games - as opposed to double headers, which are reduced to seven innings.
Fans were ducking for cover, running on the field and doing everything they could to make sure they and their loved ones were safe after hearing gunshots
Fans rush to evacuate Nationals park after hearing gunfire around 10pm. The game was in the sixth inning
Fans and players grabbed their loved ones and children and headed for the exits after shots rang out Saturday night
This video screen grab shows police cars in a blocked street as people leave the Nationals Park stadium as the game between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres
When the stadium was evacuated, heavily armed law enforcement officers stayed behind
Saturday night's shooting outside the stadium happened 24 hours after six-year-old Nyiah Courtney was killed and five adults were injured in a mass shooting less than a mile away.
Police said someone in a silver- or gray-colored sedan opened fire near a Popeyes restaurant at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X avenues.
Just hours before the shooting, Mayor Muriel Bowser and other DC and federal law enforcement officials held an emotional press conference about Friday's shooting and talked about the sickening and senseless gun violence that took a first grader's life.
During the press conference, DC Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said the gun violence must end announced a $60,000 reward.
'We have the collective responsibly to ensure our children have a right to be safe from violence. So I'm asking all to stand together and say, "No more."'
So far this year, there have been 101 homicides in Washington DC, according to DC police crime stats, which is exactly the same number of homicides as there were at this time last year.
But last year saw a 20 percent increase over 2019 with 198 homicides. That's a jump from 135 homicides in 2015 and 132 in 2010.
The San Diego Padres' Jurickson Profar #10 of the San Diego Padres runs off the field with his family
Wil Myers #5 of the San Diego Padres looks for family after shots were fired outside of the stadium
Fans take cover in Washington Nationals dugout after an apparent shooting outside Nationals Park during a game between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres
: With U.S. Capitol is seen in the background, members of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department investigate at the scene of a shooting outside the Nationals Park
No comments