Police and city have declined to release the initial police report or answer further questions on the incident that left two people hurt, saying it remains under investigation.
CHICAGO – Chicago Police now say a shooting Friday night at the White Sox game that injured two people more likely originated inside the stadium, but that matter remains under investigation.
According to Interim Police Superintendent Fred Waller, who spoke to reporters Monday alongside Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, CPD officers have “almost completely dispelled” that the shooting came from outside the stadium.
“It’s still under investigation. We are dispelling a lot of things. It coming from outside is something that we’ve almost completely dispelled, but we are still looking at every avenue,” Waller said.
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NBC 5 Investigates has learned one of two people injured during the incident Friday is a Chicago Public Schools teacher, the district confirmed in an email.
“On behalf of the entire CPS community, we wish our staff member a speedy recovery,” the district said in an emailed statement.
But three days after the shooting, the public still does not know the details of how the shooting happened, who is responsible and – if the shooting originated in the ballpark – how did a weapon get past stadium security?
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Guaranteed Rate field has metal detectors for fans entering the park.
Fans have also questioned if two people were shot, why was play not suspended?
Waller provide a conflicting answer to that Monday, saying that Chicago Police initially requested that play be suspended, but when pressed, said while that request was made initially, play was allowed to continue to not induce panic.
“We made that request initially because we did not know what was going on. We had reports of people shot at Sox park but that wasn’t confirmed, so we allowed the game to continue not to create a panic,” Waller said.
As reporters continued to lob questions about the incident, Johnson and Waller stepped away from the microphones.
When asked about suspending play, a White Sox spokesperson said in an emailed statement that Chicago Police “were on-site and talking to our security as the game progressed. They are the ultimate decision makers if they deem public safety at risk.”
Dr. Jeanne Farnan, an internal medicine physician with the University of Chicago, told NBC 5 Investigates she was in the center field bleachers Friday night when she saw people calling for help.
“There was a woman who had an obvious wound to her right medial calf,” Dr. Farnan said. “Her companion was holding pressure with napkins. When I got there, I introduced myself as a physician and I said ‘what’s going on?’ She said I heard what sounded like a bottle break and then I felt a sting.”
A few seats below and to the right of the woman who had been shot, Dr. Farnan found another victim.
“I asked her where she was hurt – and she lifted her shirt up and she had what looked to be a cigar burn on her abdomen … someone had put a towel on it and I walked her back over to where the first woman was,” Farnan said.
By then, Farnan says, EMTs had arrived and were treating the victims.
That’s when a person showed the doctor what appeared to be a bullet, which she says she handed over to the White Sox head of security.
