MLB: Washington Nationals park open again after shooting chaos

Washington Nationals on Sunday returned
to play the baseball game with the San Diego Padres hours after a shooting incident outside the stadium
in Washinton DC forced the game to be stopped in the sixth inning on Saturday. Fans
also showed up though in small pockets around a park that fits more than 41,000
after the scare of the previous night.

On Saturday, the scenes were different. During the whole
fiasco, the fans in the stands either used their seats as protection or
sprinted for the exits beyond the center field in a state of panic. Shouts of “shooter” blared all around the stadium, especially from the sections near the gates closest
to the incident. According to Washington Post, a woman broke her nose ducking
for cover.

“The situation changed immediately, there were no longer
players or fans. I feel like everybody is just people. Just human beings out
there,” San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis was quoted by Washington
Post as saying.

Some fans took cover in the office of the Nationals manager Dave
Martinez who on being asked by the security said all of them were family.

 According to the DC police,
three people were shot in the incident on Saturday. This included a woman who
was found wounded outside the stadium. Two more people arrived at a hospital with gunshot wounds.

DC police executive assistant chief Ashan Benedict informed
that the incident involved gunfire from a car and it was aimed at another car. One
of the vehicles that are believed to be involved has been recovered while the
law enforcement agencies are on the lookout for the other car. They have asked the
public to help in locating it.

The United States has a long and painful history of deadly gun violence, in the form of a steady daily toll of shootings as well as high-profile mass killings that have targeted schools, workplaces and shopping centers.