Major League Baseball fans around Chicagoland are in shock after hearing about a shooting that took place Friday, August 25 inside Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox during a game against the Oakland Athletics. Chicago police reported that calls about the incident erupted around 8:45 p.m., about halfway through the game. Despite shots being fired, the game continued, but a concert that followed it was canceled due to “technical difficulties.” Two women were injured, including a 42-year-old who was struck by a gunshot wound in the leg and a 26-year-old that sustained a wound to her abdomen.
In the aftermath, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) never believed that there was an active threat and there was no altercation between any fans.
Despite the lack of information regarding the occurrence, Attorney John Malm representing the 42-year-old woman declared that her wound was not self-inflicted, and denied that there was any discharge of a firearm on her. According to police, it is still not known where the shots came from, whether they were inside or outside of the ballpark.
Long time White Sox fan and Physics teacher Tracy Van Hoy, who attended the fourth game of the series Sunday, had no idea the shooting had even happened.
“I was surprised, because you do not normally hear about shootings in a stadium that is pretty secure,” Van Hoy said.
Van Hoy mentioned that she has been to countless amounts of White Sox games over the past several years. She said that she has always felt safe whenever she attended a game, with no prior concerns about security.
However, reflecting on her experience at Sunday’s game made her realize that the amount of security can improve outside of the stadium.
“I do think that the shots were fired outside of the stadium, so they probably need a better police presence outside,” Van Hoy said.
Junior Matthew Fouch, who is both a big White Sox fan and a varsity baseball player, had a different perspective on the shooting.
“I don’t think the shooting will have too much of an effect on whether or not I go to Sox games,” Fouch said.
Fouch also points to the motive behind the use of the gun as an important factor in the severity of its use.
“Since the gun was accidentally discharged and wasn’t used malevolently, I think it makes the incident much less glaring.” Fouch said.
Fouch also mentioned that he goes to a good amount of White Sox games, and that he does not think the incident was very severe, and that people trying to bring weapons into stadiums is a very rare issue, providing a very different perspective on the matter.
Although this seems like a one-off incident, there have been other issues involving shootings at stadiums located in the city. A shooting recently occurred during a concert, featuring Chicago native and rapper Lil Durk, at the United Center, one of Chicago’s most iconic entertainment venues.
“I really don’t think this situation with a gun being brought into the stadium will become a very prevalent issue in the baseball community.” Fouch said.
