(Observer Network News) The successive large-scale shootings in recent days have made the American people look like birds of fright. According to a number of US media reports, on the 29th local time, due to "sound interference", riots occurred at the Barclays Center in New York, the public mistakenly thought that the sound was the sound of gunshots, and some people also shouted that there were "active gunmen" at the scene, causing the crowd to flee for their lives in terror, and then a stampede accident occurred, causing 18 people to be injured.
After the accident, according to the NYPD, they "determined that no one fired the shots" after an investigation, though the source of the sound was unclear.
The New York Times: The stampede happened after the loud noise at barclays center sparked fears of gunmen
The riot occurred in the early morning of the 29th at the Barclays Center, an indoor sports competition venue in Brooklyn, New York.
According to the New York Times, a NYPD spokesman said that at about 1 a.m., after professional boxer Gervonta Davis and Rolando Romero had played a boxing match, the crowd was gradually leaving the Barclays Center when a loud noise came from the street outside the stadium.
Fearing that it might be a gunshot, the people ran wildly, the report said. Dozens of people ran back inside the stadium, crossing the aisles in search of cover. The people in the stadium also panicked and fled in all directions. Because it was not clear whether it was inside or outside the stadium, many people in the stadium also flocked to the exit.
Amanjot Kaur, 26, told The New York Times that she heard a "thump" as she left the Barclays Center, with someone screaming that there were gunmen holding guns. As the crowd panicked and rushed to the exit, she was knocked to the ground and trampled.
"I thought I was dead, I thought I was going to suffocate," Kaul said. She also said her knees were bleeding profusely from the trampling and that they followed her to the exit after her brother-in-law managed to pull her out of the stampede.
At the time of the riot, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka was also present. Naomi Osaka said that when the chaos broke out, she hid in a room and she was "stunned."
She wrote on Twitter: "I was at the Barclays Centre and suddenly I heard shouting and saw people running, and then we heard someone yelling that there was an active gunman and we had to squeeze into a room and close the door and I was stunned. In a subsequent tweet, the four-time Grand Slam champion also said: "I really hope everyone can escape safely." ”
Naomi Osaka
Ryan Songalia, a journalist for The Ring, was also on the scene, and according to him, just as he was about to publish a report on the match, he heard a commotion and saw that suddenly dozens of people began to rush back to the venue. At first, he thought there had been a fight, but then he saw the fear in people's eyes.
"(People) must have been frightened, they didn't look like they were running back indoors to dodge the fists of a few people, it was as if they were running for their lives," Songgaria said in an interview with The New York Post. Some mistakenly believed it was the gunman's disturbance, and he crouched down to look for cover and discuss with other reporters nearby whether to run to the exit.
"The recent headlines and the panic of the crowd have made many of us fear that our greatest fears will come true," Songaria said, "and thankfully we were able to get back in our seats to send our reports and leave safely." ”
According to The New York Times, police conducted an investigation after the incident and determined that no one fired the shots, but they were unable to say what caused the noise.
According to CNN reported on the 30th, the 78th Branch of the New York Police Department tweeted on the 29th, "After investigating the incident that occurred at the Barclays Center this morning, we determined that no one fired." ”
A NYPD spokesperson also told CNN that there was "sound jamming" at the Barclays Center, mistaking people for gunshots. A total of 18 people were injured in the stampede and 9 were taken to the local hospital. Police also said the source of the voice was unclear.
It is worth noting that when reporting on the Barclays Center riots, the New York Times and CNN and other US media have mentioned the successive mass shootings in the United States in recent weeks: on May 14, local time, a white gunman shot and killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and the dead were all of African descent. On the 24th local time, a large-scale shooting occurred at Rob Elementary School in Uvaldi, Texas, killing 19 elementary school students and 2 teachers, shocking the United States.
CNN commented that the shootings left "the United States still in a state of tension."
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