Panic over active shooter rumors leads to stampede, injuries at Barclays Center
Authorities say that false reports of an active shooter caused several people to get hurt after a boxing match at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Madonna and tennis star Naomi Osaka were both there.
According to a spokeswoman for the New York Police Department, people began fleeing soon after midnight on Sunday due to a “loud disturbance” following the world lightweight championship match, and early claims of bullets fired on social media were “incorrect.”
Detective Adam Navarro claimed that ten people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries after the crowd rush.
At some point during her time inside the Barclays Center on Sunday, Osaka tweeted that she “heard shouts and saw people running” before being informed “that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and seal the doors.” A “petrified” Osaka described her feelings.
There was no active shooter at the area, according to Navarro, who said the NYPD investigated and dismissed the reports. It was “a lot of nothing” when we looked into it, he said in an interview with the New York Post.
