USA TODAY International Edition
Play ball after gun violence touches Nationals Park
‘ We all want to feel safe’ sums up reaction from Nationals and Padres a day after chaos.
WASHINGTON – It took just a few seconds for America’s pastime to mix with one of America’s chronic ills.
Those chaotic few moments just before 9: 30 p. m. Saturday in the nation’s capital, when baseball and gun violence found themselves intertwined, did far more than suspend the Padres- Nationals game after a volley of gunfire outside Nationals Park wounded three, including a woman who attended the game.
It certainly revealed the very best in the fans, the security staff who kept them calm as shots rang out but chaos was minimized, and the players and coaches who welcomed strangers into the sanctum of their dugouts and clubhouses in the name of safety.
It also exposed, in a site supposed to be a sanctuary for athlete and fan alike, the numbing effect decades of mass shootings and gun violence has had on athletes and fans alike.
“As you all know, this is not just us,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Sunday morning, hours after helping fans to safety and even into his office. “It’s happening everywhere.”
Based on police and eyewitness reports, the shooting was not a premeditated act and probably not related to the ballgame. D. C. Metro Police said Sunday that shots were fired from at least one vehicle into another – it’s possible an exchange of gunfire occurred – and they are seeking one car involved in the shooting after recovering another.
The shooting came one day after the District of Columbia was roiled by the killing of a 6- year- old girl, Nyiah Courtney, who was shot along with five adults in what police said was a drive- by shooting in Southeast D. C.
“Our city is heartbroken,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said Saturday morning about Friday’s incident.
Saturday night, that violence landed on the doorstep of Nationals Park, a publicly funded jewel whose surrounding area has seen a boon in development – urban renewal to some, gentrification and displacement to others.
The scourge of violence does not often hit home to the Nationals or many of their fans who come to the District from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Martinez, who lives near the ballpark and has managed the Nationals since 2018, had to collect himself as he defended his adopted home. “You know,” he said, pausing, “I love this city. This city is my home. It can get crazy. We all know that. And we all want to feel safe. I can tell you that inside this ballpark, I feel safer than ever. I really do.”
The actions of Martinez, the players and fans reflect generations who have grown up in a post- Columbine world.
In the minutes between the gunshots and the public address announcement noting their origin and that sheltering in the stadium was safest, the instinctual reaction of fans and players rather concisely reflected a society in which mass shooting drills for kindergartners are standard.
Some fans sprinted for the center field exit. Others immediately ducked in their seats. Those in the sanctum of club seats and stadium restaurants even overturned tables to create safer havens.
For the players, many with family in the stands, it was a simple instinct: reunite and protect.
“The shots happened in one second; you heard constant shooting,” Padres outfielder Wil Myers said Sunday. “From where we were, we didn’t hear any screams from any fans. It did take a little bit to realize it was gunshots. If we’d have heard screaming, we would’ve all known what was going on. At that point, you try to hear what people are saying and make your moves to get people safe in that instance.”
The Padres’ families were seated behind their third base dugout and thus in decent proximity to the sound of the gunshots, which rang out near the third base entrance to the stadium. So Myers, whose parents attended the game after traveling from their North Carolina home, shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado went to the stands to help.
Family, fans, strangers – it didn’t matter.
“The situation changed immediately,” Tatis said Sunday. “There’s no longer player or fans. I feel like everybody is just people. Just human beings out there. Just need to be secure.”
All things considered – the announced crowd of 33,232, the chaos of gunfire, the initial confusion of its origin – the situation calmed in short order. Martinez credited MLB security official Brian Sedgwick with facilitating the transfer of fans from stands to dugout; he says there are protocols in place for such an incident, but those can quickly be lost in the haze of the event.
“Yesterday, everybody in this stadium, security, handled it really well,” Martinez said. “I thank the fans for doing the best they can to stay calm. They were all in our dugout like sardines, and I wanted to make sure they were safe and comfortable and they knew that we do care about that. That’s it. I just wanted everybody to be safe.”
The fans would agree. They showed out strong for Sunday’s resumption of Saturday’s game and the regularly scheduled matinee, knowing security would be tighter – but still received some unsolicited advice.
“My wife said, be careful, be aware of your surroundings,” says D. C. resident David Adesnik, who brought his 6- yearold son to the game. “It’s something you might hear walking somewhere deserted late at night, not at a baseball stadium.”
Bethesda, Maryland, resident Kate Offutt spent part of the morning scrolling through Facebook and noting the surreal nature of Saturday’s events, which didn’t deter her or her friend from attending Sunday.
“If anything, I figured today would be safer than any day, though my husband gave some advice – to duck and cover,” says Liz, a Nationals fan from Bethesda who declined to give her last name. “If it’s a mass shooting, it could happen at the mall, at Walmart, anywhere. It’s a matter of luck.”