Barclays Center Stampede Triggered by Rumored Gunshot Noise Leaves 10 Injured
Noise resembling gunfire triggered a stampede for safety during a boxing match Sunday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, resulting in 10 people injured.
Brooklyn’s ABC 4 reported that thousands of people were leaving the venue around 1 a.m. after Gervonta Davis defeated Rolando Romero when a noise from the street incited panic. According to NYPD, many began to rush out of the building, while others ran back in to take cover from the purported gunman.
Hours later, NYPD’s 78th precinct tweeted that no shots were fired, though they did not state what had caused the noise. Police told the New York Times that 10 people were taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries that they had sustained during the commotion.
Scary moment as crowds pour back into Barclays Center, my fear was a shooting but those fears proved unfounded. pic.twitter.com/pcBdfwWplt
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) May 29, 2022
Some of the attendees documented the chaos on social media. Ring Magazine reporter Ryan Songalia took a video of people running through the seats as someone can be heard asking if there are guns.
Shortly after the incident, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger tweeted that a security supervisor said the stampede began when a person in the main plaza was spotted carrying a gun. He also reported that injuries included a concussion and an elbow injury.
A Barclays Center security supervisor told ESPN there was a person with a gun in the main plaza that led to a stampede back into the arena. Multiple people transported to hospital. Official estimated approximately a dozen injuries. Among them: a concussion and an elbow injury. https://t.co/LPfMO5qPzT
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 29, 2022
Tennis player Naomi Osaka tweeted that she was “f–ing terrified” after she heard shouting and saw people running. “Then we were being yelled at that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and close the door,” she wrote.
I was just in the Barclays center and suddenly I heard shouting and saw people running, then we were being yelled at that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and close the doors, I was so fucking petrified man.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 29, 2022
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Madonna was also photographed at the match, although whether she was present during the stampede is unclear.
Many reports have pointed out that the false alarm came less than a week after last week’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the latest in a series of mass shootings that have occurred in the last month.
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