Nationals, Padres recall shooting
Gunshots heard outside stadium in sixth inning
A $10,000 US reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of people or persons who carried out a shooting Saturday night outside Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
Three people sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds in the incident — a woman who was outside the stadium and two men who sought treatment at a hospital later, police said.
About 9:30 p.m. local time, as the game between the Nationals and San Diego Padres was about to enter the bottom of the sixth inning, players and fans inside the stadium could hear the gunshots. They weren’t sure at first where they were coming from, but later learned they originated from outside in the 1300 block of South Capitol Street, Southwest.
The game was suspended and concluded Sunday afternoon, with the Padres winning 10-4.
Nationals and Padres personnel spoke Sunday before the resumption of the suspended game, which was followed by the regularly scheduled game, about the events of Saturday night.
Several Padres family members made the trip to Washington, D.C. As officials were trying to figure out just what had happened, the San Diego players headed to find their family members seated along the third-base line and usher them onto the field and into the dugout for safety. Fans followed.
“The situation changed immediately,” San Diego star Fernando Tatis Jr. said Sunday morning. “There’s no longer players, fans. Everybody’s just people, just human beings out there.”
On the first-base side of the field, manager Dave Martinez made sure stadium security got players and their families into the clubhouse, then turned to help the fans who had packed into the Nationals dugout.
“For me, they’re family. They’re our fans,” Martinez said. “I love this city. This city’s my home . ... I can tell you that inside this ballpark, I feel safer than ever, I really do. We care about each other. We don’t want anybody getting hurt.”
Padres manager Jayce Tingler lauded the players for the action they took to help others.
“I couldn’t be any more proud to be a Padre, to be with the men in there,” Tingler said. “They obviously thought the safest place from where the shots were — and you don’t know what’s going on — they thought maybe the dugout could’ve been the safest place, and they led.”