Reports Friday night stated another ‘Gun-Incident’ took place at a football game pitting the Oakland Raiders against their host Arizona Cardinals. Naturally, all the ‘Debby Downers’ had it as yet ANOTHER case of Raiders fans being Hoodlums, etc… However, as is with most news stories that jump right from ‘initial reports’ to ‘the hot press,’ this incident isn’t exactly what most football-fan-hoodlum naysayers will use to ‘beat the drum.’
According to Officer Tracey Breeden, the on-duty Public Information officer for the Glendale Police Department, a 9:30 PM local time altercation between two male individuals took place in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, which is sometimes used as ‘overflow parking’ for games. The shooter, who immediately called the police once the incident took place, stated that it was accidental when he pulled out a gun and it fired. The victim of the shooting suffered what Breeden called ‘flesh wounds’ and not what were erroneously reported originally as ‘life-threatening injuries.’ The as yet unidentified shooter is in police custody, but is not under arrest at this time. Police are reporting the shooting victim will be ‘perfectly fine.’ Further non-factual reporting had the weapon as a shotgun when in fact it was a hand gun (caliber as yet to be identified), with the shot purported to be to the face – which has yet to be confirmed. Again, as soon as the words ‘Gun Shots’ ‘Victim’ and ‘Football Game’ come across in any order in short period of time, many folks in the media as well as the general public rush off in panic mode, not knowing the full story. This travesty of jumping to conclusions before all facts are in most definitely needs to stop. While it is a shame that an incident and injury occurred due to a handgun discharge adjacent to a sporting event, one should remember that until all facts are gleaned, jumping to conclusions may be bad to your health… from the strain it puts on your mind and your legs!
The shooting victim is my friends son witch did suffer a shot to the face. I don’t know what caused the shooter to draw his gun but I’m sure it was’nt nessary. There is no way a gun can go off accidently if you did’nt have your finger on the trigger,in order for it to go off you have to pull the trigger…
While I understand the pain of the incident, especially since you know the victim himself, the point of THIS ARTICLE is that the shooting wasn’t necessarily in relation to nor had any causal affect to the football game played nearby.
I too agree with you that a handgun doesn’t go off ‘accidentally’ either, as many people who have not had the proper training on firearms grab and move the weapon with their finger on the trigger – as stated. The ‘accident’ part was more likely in response to ‘intent’ more than anything else, and the fact that at the time of writing this article the shooter hadn’t been charged nor arrested speaks volumes…
I do not know the victim, the shooter or the cause of this incident, only what facts have been told to me, the media, and the general public with regard to what happened in the parking lot in question. I certainly hope the victim will recover from this shooting and not be scared unnecessarily either physically or emotionally. Thank you for your comment nevertheless sir.
I know the victim.And just heard he’s going to be blind the rest of his life. And I feel the guy that shot him no matter what he should pay for shoting someone.Accident or not he shot someone. What is up with ppl.
Of note, the word in the last sentence should be ‘scarred’ rather than ‘scared’ – apologies…
While it is a shame that an incident and injury occurred due to a handgun discharge adjacent to a sporting event. Agreed!