WEAPONIZED DRONES
Sox fans won’t be scared away
Tara Stockton was running the Boston Marathon in 2013 when the bombs exploded, killing three people and wounding hundreds more. The next year, she came back to run it again.
Yesterday, the Tennessee woman proudly wore a Red Sox shirt as she walked outside Fenway Park, hand in hand with her husband just after news broke that Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock had cased hotels online near the beloved Hub ballpark.
“It won’t stop us for sure,” said Stockton, who said she and her husband hope to get tickets to Sunday’s game at Fenway. “We just have a love for the Boston Red Sox and Boston.”
Her husband, Jack Stockton, a Tennessee sheriff, said, “It’s just unpredictable where it may happen at and who it’s going to happen to.
“It’s one of the greatest cities in America,” he added, calling our city “hometown America.”
“We travel from coast to coast all the time,” Jack Stockton said. “We love Boston.”
Over his lifetime, Josh Taylor, 25, has gone to at least 40 games at Fenway. Taylor called Fenway home and said the news that Paddock had eyed it as a potential target won’t keep him away.
“The city is strong enough to not let those things bother us,” said Taylor. “I don’t think it would be a risk at all. It’s shocking to think that Boston is a place where that would happen, especially since the marathon (bombings) happened five years ago.”
Taylor wore a Sox jersey and was heading to watch the game at a bar. “I grew up going to games. My uncle had season tickets for a while. I had a rough childhood, so being able to come here in the summer with my stepdad and my mom — it was a good time.”
To anyone thinking about targeting the historic ballpark, Taylor said, “Think of the people; think of all the families; think of all the hurt that’s going on in the world. Baseball’s supposed to be an escape from the hard times around here.”
Northeastern University senior Chris Souza is a lifetime Sox fan who grew up in Rhode Island.
“It’s scary to think about a venue that you go to and feel safe at would be targeted for such a heinous crime,” said Souza, who is studying criminal justice.
Souza said he loves coming to Fenway and sitting in the center field bleachers, enjoying the game with the crowd.
“Knowing that’s not exactly a safe space is very concerning,” Souza said. “It’s terrifying to see something like that.”
Souza went to Boston Calling, the outdoor music festival at Harvard, over the summer. “Knowing that I could have been a victim,” he said, “is very unsettling.”