Two women were wounded in a shooting Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field as the White Sox played the Oakland Athletics — a game that carried on for more than an hour with an active crime scene in the left-field bleachers.
Video of the incident provided by the team showed confusion — but no chaos — near Section 161 after the attendees were hit by bullets about 7:30 p.m., according to Chicago police and Sox officials.
In a written statement, the team said it was “unclear to investigators whether the shots were fired from outside or inside the ballpark.”
A 42-year-old woman was hit in the leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, police said in a statement released hours after the shooting. A 26-year-old woman declined medical attention for a graze wound to the abdomen.
The game wrapped up shortly before 9 p.m., or nearly 90 minutes after officers responded to the shooting. The team reported 21,906 people were in attendance.
“At no time was it believed there was an active threat,” police said.
Sox officials said “this incident did not involve an altercation of any kind,” and stadium video “does not indicate any activity prior to the injuries.”
“The White Sox are thinking of the victims at this time and wishing them a speedy recovery,” the team said.
A one-minute video clip released by the team shows a group near the aisle of a crowded Section 161, with one person first standing up and looking toward the ground, and then others doing the same. Other fans then flag down security.
The ballpark atmosphere doesn’t skip a beat otherwise, the video shows, with most others in the area showing no reaction. Two children can be seen hopping up the steps nearby moments before the two victims apparently were hit.
Fans later told reporters outside the ballpark that the shooting happened around the third inning, then security cleared people out of the section and the game continued.
Those in the stadium were told that a post-game concert by rappers Vanilla Ice and Tone Loc was canceled “due to technical issues.”
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said in a statement that she was “shocked and sickened” by the shooting, and that she “requested a meeting with the White Sox to discuss protocols to ensure fans’ safety at future games.”
“As Alderman of this ward and as a fan who has attended many Sox games, I am shocked and sickened by what happened last night, and my heart goes out to the gunshot victims,” Lee said. “I am in ongoing communication with both the Chicago Police Department and the White Sox organization, and it is my promise to our community and our city that we will get to the bottom of this.”
Many on social media slammed the team for continuing play as detectives investigated a shooting that happened not far from the Sox bullpen.
“They just kept playing like nothing happened?” one person posted on twitter.com.
“[H]ow do you continue to let the fans be around and finish the game?” another asked, saying fan and player “safety should be the first thing that is important.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the Area One Detective Division at (312) 747-8380, or submit an anonymous tip through CPDTIP.com.
Contributing: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere, Tom Schuba
