I’ve seen enough disaster movies to know what a fleeing crowd looks like – people scattering, screaming, panicking. It’s one thing when extras from the Chitauri walk in the avengerbut it’s another deeply disturbing, unnecessary Twitter video that has a crowd of Milwaukee Bucks fans trying to watch their team defeat the Celtics in Game 6 of the Conference Semifinals.
No, I have no link to fans running away a shootout in which three people were injured a block away from the Deer District on Friday nights because you’ve probably already seen it, and if you’re interested it’s a quick google search away. All of the victims – two men in their mid to late 20s and a 16-year-old girl – are expected to survive.
The number of fans watching the game in the popular viewing area outside of the Fiserv Forum was in the region of 11,000 according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, so of course the hysteria will spread quickly.
It’s extremely depressing that in the absence of victims, it’s okay to share footage of people who at the moment probably thought they were running for their lives. For all they knew, it could have been a deranged mass gunman with bags of ammo. And we still don’t know if it wasn’t, even though it’s a mass shooting. A 19-year-old was taken into custody in connection with the incident, according to Milwaukee Police Captain Warren Allen.
And then, later that evening, just a few blocks from the shooting near the arena, 17 people were shot. All of the wounded in the incident are also expected to survive and 10 people have been taken into custody with nine firearms seized, officials said.
If you add the 20-year-old man who was shot and injured on North Water Street off West Highland Avenue, A total of 21 people were the victims of gun violence in downtown Milwaukee on Friday night. His injuries aren’t life-threatening either, so that’s good news.
So, yeah, I feel good not embedding this tweet and depriving readers of a massive shooting clip to start their Saturday.
