One person died and several were injured Sunday in a stampede after concertgoers rushed for the exits because they thought they heard gunshots at a venue in Rochester, New York.
In a statement, Lt. Nicholas Adams of the Rochester Police Department said officers were initially called to the Rochester Main Street Armory due to reports of shots being fired, but discovered that none of the nine victims sustained gunshot wounds, according to the Washington Examiner.
"At this time, there is no evidence to support a shooting having occurred inside the event," Adams said. "The injuries appear to be as a result of a large crowd pushing towards the exits following accounts of individuals hearing what they believed to be gunshots."
The incident took place at about 10:30 p.m. as rappers GloRilla and Finesse2Tymes were performing, according to WHEC. At some point during the concert, some attendees thought they heard gunshots, while others heard cries of panic and rushed for the exits, causing a stampede.
"All I know, it was a lot of running. A lot of people got hurt. I see people on the ground, like hurt badly," a concertgoer told the news station. "It was deathly packed. So I knew I had to get up out of there."
A 33-year-old woman died in the stampede. Two others were hospitalized in critical condition with life-threatening injuries and six were taken to the hospital after sustaining non-life-threatening injuries.
Rochester Police Chief David Smith told WHEC that an investigation is underway.
"We are hearing many reports of potential causes, including crowd size, shots fired, pepper spray," Smith said.
Taking to Twitter just after midnight, GloRilla responded.
"I’m just now hearing about what happened wtf praying everybody is ok," she wrote, along with crying and prayer emojis.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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