A shooting that led to two people being wounded inside the Chicago White Sox’s Stadium has now been deemed a negligent discharge by police. Questions swirled about how the gun made its way past metal detectors and security personnel to enter the stadium, but the new theory from police makes sense and is absolutely shocking at the same time.
After what ABC 7, a local Chicago news station, described as an hours-long meeting between police and investigative personnel to comb through all surveillance video at the scene, they have come to the conclusion that the most likely way the woman got the firearm into the stadium “snuck the gun in past metal detectors hiding it in the folds of her belly fat,” according to ESPN reporter Peggy Kusinski.
Those flaps of skin and fat concealed the weapon from the prying eyes of security workers and hit the signature of a large metal object from the stadium’s metal detectors that all fans must walk through to enter Guaranteed Rate Field. This makes the scene far more understandable, as many were baffled that a fan would be smart enough to smuggle a gun into the stadium but then careless enough to allow a negligent discharge.
Police seemed to have the situation under control quickly after the event transpired, as the Chicago PD released this in a statement. “Upon receiving notification of this incident, CPD responded immediately and deployed additional resources while coordinating with White Sox security to maintain the safety of those who were in attendance or working at the game. At no time was it believed there was an active threat.”
The women who were injured, one 42 and the other 26-years-old, were both free of any life-threatening injuries, with one being listed in fair condition and the 26-year-old said to have refused medical treatment.
The White Sox offered a brief message to fans, which said, “Two fans attending Friday’s game suffered non-life threatening injuries after being struck by bullets. It is unclear to investigators whether the shots were fired from outside or inside the ballpark. The incident continues to be investigated by Area One detectives from the Chicago Police Department. While the police continue to investigate, White Sox security confirms that this incident did not involve an altercation of any kind.”
Going along with the idea that this was truly just a negligent discharge, the statement continued, “Ballpark video of the incident 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.”
National news stories can often have some degree of shock value, but very few recently have left such a stark sense of surprise as this woman. Smuggling a firearm into a Major League Baseball game by concealing it in one’s fat rolls sounds more like a scene from a South Park episode than a real-life story. But rest assured, the city of Chicago will never cease to amaze.
The featured image is a screenshot from an embedded YouTube video.
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