SHOOTING OUTSIDE BALLPARK: Padres-nationals game suspended after four shot near D.C. stadium
WASHINGTON» The game between the San Diego Padres and Washington was suspended in the sixth inning Saturday night after a shooting outside Nationals Park that caused echoes of gunfire inside the stadium and prompted fans to scramble for safety.
Two people were shot, said Dustin Sternbeck, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesman. Investigators believe, based on preliminary information, that one of the victims was an employee at the stadium, he said.
Washington police later tweeted that “two additional victims associated with this incident walked into area hospitals for treatment of gunshot wounds.”
“It was just a chaotic scene,” umpire crew chief Mark Carlson said. “We heard what sounded like rapid gunfire. We didn’t know where it was coming from.”
The Padres had just taken the field for the bottom of the sixth when several loud pops were heard from the left field side of the ballpark.
Fans sitting in left field quickly began leaving through the center field gate. A short time later, fans along the first base side began briskly leaving their seats.
Some fans crowded into the Padres’ dugout on the third base side for cover, while sirens could be heard from outside the park.
Ted Borenstein, 26, was at the game with his girlfriend and his best friend, celebrating her birthday and “having a great time” when he heard two pops. He said the group thought it was practice for a fireworks show.
Borenstein said he quickly realized it was far more serious when he saw people in the stands start filing out and watched Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. “bolt from the field.’
In the stadium’s Diamond Club, where he and his friends were, people were hiding under tables and chairs, thinking there was a shooter inside the stadium. “People were down on the ground, kind of petrified, trying to calm down the younger kids,” he said.
More than two dozen police cars, ambulances and fire engines were on the street outside the third base side of the stadium and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
The shooting comes as Washington, like many other cities in the U.S., is facing a rising number of violent crimes and homicides. A 6-year-old girl was killed and five other people were wounded in a shooting Friday night about three miles from Nationals Park.
The Padres led 8-4 when the game was halted. It will be resumed Sunday afternoon, followed by the regularly scheduled game.