During Tuesday night’s Cardinals game, inside Busch Stadium, a fan was reportedly grazed by a bullet that hit her in the arm. Police said there had been calls about shots fired in a nearby area just moments before a 34 year-old woman watching the game “felt a pain in her arm.”
She went to the first aid station, and workers there contacted an off-duty police officer working a secondary security job there, police said. There was reportedly a bullet casing found right by the woman’s seat.
Todd Porter, 54, who was sitting directly behind the victim, said the following to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
She suddenly said, “Wow, I think I’ve been shot,” just as the eighth inning was coming to a close, Porter said.
“We thought she was joking, but everybody turned around and she showed me the blood coming down from her elbow,” Porter said. “It looked real purple and red and it looked like there was a hole in her jacket.”
The man who was sitting with the victim then said, “We need security, she’s been shot,” Porter recalled.
In a statement, the Cardinals confirmed the incident and said: “There is nothing more important than the safety of our fans, and the Cardinals are grateful that no one was seriously injured.”
Team President Bill DeWitt III said security at the ballpark has never been tighter. Safety measures include surveillance cameras inside and outside; three explosives-detection dogs and a fourth on the way; two SWAT teams; and new metal detectors, which are all linked.
The police call received, about shots fired in the area, turned out to be less than one mile from the ballpark at 14th Street and Chouteau Avenue area.
Quite a scary incident that could have ended much worse.
