An active shooter scare set off a stampede at the Barclays Center as crowds were leaving a boxing match early Sunday morning.
The Gervonta Davis and Rolando Romero boxing match had ended, and spectators were leaving around 1 a.m. when loud noises spooked the crowd. Fearing an active shooter, people started running for cover.
ABC7 reports that 18 were hurt during the stampede. Several people were transported to area hospitals for medical treatment.
Several high-profile people were in attendance for the bout, with a crowd totaling about 19,000 people. One of those in attendance was tennis star Naomi Osaka, who tweeted that she had to hide out in a room behind closed doors.
“I was just in the Barclays center and suddenly I heard shouting and saw people running, then we were being yelled at that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and close the doors, I was so fucking petrified man,” she wrote.
Footage circulating on social media shows a panicked crowd trying to get out of the arena. Other photos show broken glass alongside lost shoes and hats.
The incident comes as people are on high alert following the mass shootings at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and the Tops grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York.
