Osaka shook up by Barclays Center stampede (VIDEO)
Former tennis world number one Naomi Osaka tweeted that she was "petrified" when trapped in a stampede in Brooklyn after a boxing show on Saturday night.
"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 f–king petrified, man," Osaka wrote on Twitter at 1:42 AM local time.
Returning from the French Open prematurely after being knocked out by Amanda Anisimova in the first round, the 24-year-old was in attendance for Gervonta Davis' clash with Rolando Romero.
At the end of the evening, however, several spectators were injured as the crowd "ran for their lives" when falsely believing there was a shooter in the main plaza.
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.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 29, 2022
I really hope everyone made it out safely, since I’m tweeting this we made it out ok.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 29, 2022
"I really hope everyone made it out safely, since I'm tweeting this we made it out ok," Osaka also said on Twitter.
But according to an NYPD spokesperson, however, who spoke to The New York Post, reports of there being an active shooter were "inaccurate".
"It's a large crowd condition. No shots fired. No one [was] shot outside the Barclay's Center," the spokesperson said.
Unfortunately, however, multiple people were still rushed to hospital with injuries according to ESPN, with a fight breaking out as people were leaving the Barclays Center causing confusion over there being a shooting.
"We're used to brawls at boxing events but recent headlines and the panic of the crowd made many of us worried that our worst fears would come true," Boxing reporter Ryan Songalia said, also to the New York Post, with a nod to shooting massacres in Buffalo and at an elementary school in Texas this week.
Scary moment as crowds pour back into Barclays Center, my fear was a shooting but those fears proved unfounded. pic.twitter.com/pcBdfwWplt
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) May 29, 2022
"Thankfully we were able to return to our seats to file our stories and exit safely," Songalia added of himself and other journalists.
Videos on social media showed members of the crowd scrambling with one another and items such as shoes left on the floor in the aftermath.
Before the scare, the audience had enjoyed Davis retaining his WBA lightweight title by knocking Romero out in the sixth round.
