Five days after the bleachers at Sox park were transformed into a crime scene, Chicago police say they still have not determined how two fans were struck by gunfire.
A police spokesperson on Wednesday said “no theories have been ruled out.” Interim Police Supt. Fred Waller had told reporters earlier this week that investigators “almost completely dispelled” the possibility the gunfire came from outside the stadium, but that theory is now apparently back in play.
Meanwhile, law enforcement sources told the Sun-Times that police are investigating whether one of the victims sneaked a gun into the stadium, then handed it off to another person after it accidentally discharged.
That victim, a 42-year-old woman from Montgomery, has obtained a lawyer who issued a statement Tuesday denying she brought a firearm into Guaranteed Rate Field.
Scott Reifert, the White Sox vice president of communications, said the team has reviewed video and found no evidence that a weapon was brought into the ballpark.
The woman and others with her didn’t trigger “alerts on the security systems” or raise suspicions, he said.
“If the police are finding something different, or the evidence is leading them in a different direction here, ultimately it would be good to get some resolution,” Reifert said. “Just so we know and we know what we’re dealing with and what we’re trying to solve.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has joined the investigation, according to a spokesperson, who said the ATF is assisting the police department by providing “state-of-the-art” technology to analyze ballistic evidence recovered at the stadium.
A woman at the game said she found a bullet in her hoodie after the shooting. She gave it to a doctor who was tending the two women who were wounded, and the doctor said she passed it on to police.
The Sox will host the Detroit Tigers on Friday night, exactly a week after the shooting upended the team’s dismal season and overshadowed speculation about a potential move.
The two victims were struck by bullets about 7:30 p.m. Friday while sitting near section 161 during the Sox game against the Oakland Athletics, according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times.
The 42-year-old woman suffered two gunshot wounds to the right leg — one of the bullets traveled through her thigh, and the other struck her calf and became lodged in her shin, the report said.
Another woman, 26, was grazed by a bullet in her lower abdomen and refused medical treatment.
A third woman said she felt a pinch to her back and found a bullet in the hood of her sweatshirt wrapped around her waist, according to the police report.
None of the victims or witnesses mentioned in the police report could provide officers with a description of the shooter.
The game continued to be played, even though police initially asked that it be halted “for public safety reasons,” the report states.
“A lot of the feedback that we’ve gotten from folks is that they understand that this was freakish and this seemed to be one-off,” Reifert said. “And that the ballpark is still a fun, safe place to come and enjoy a ballgame.”
