BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – Some in our area are back home Monday after a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. to take in the sights and enjoy a baseball game that turned into a nightmare.
That includes Jacob Reeves and his wife of Botetourt County, who in the fight or flight moments hunkered down inside Nationals Park to try and stay safe while a shooting unfolded outside.
The play-by-play announcers of Saturday night’s game made it clear what fans were feeling.
“This is a very bizarre scene at Nationals Park, we have no idea what’s going on,” the one said.
Jacob Reeves and his wife were in that crowd thinking the same thing. They made the trip to see their favorite team play.
“It was supposed to be kind of a romantic getaway weekend with the wife and I, we left the kids at home with a friend and scooted away to see the Padres play,” Reeves said.
But the game was derailed more than halfway through when shots echoed through the ballpark. Reeves said people knew something was wrong, but didn’t know what, and amidst the panic, a low hum fell over the stadium.
“Five minutes in moments like that can feel like 15, 20, but it really was only a few moments but in that silence, there was no official word being made,” Reeves said.
The PA announcer came on the speakers a few minutes later, telling people the shooting was outside and unrelated to the game. Some fans on the concourse closest to the shooting ran for their lives, but Reeves and his wife were on the other side of the stadium. They decided it was best to hunker down and shelter where they were. Reeves said seeing children caught in all of it hit him hard.
“Hopefully some of the fans don’t get scared, especially the young ones,” Reeves said. “You know that was the part that was most challenging was these kids are you know waiting to hear, they’re scared obviously because adults are kind of panicking.”
Washington, D.C. police said three people were hurt in the shooting, including a baseball fan caught in the crossfire outside the stadium. Reeves and his wife went back for the game the next day and enjoyed every bit of baseball they could. He said this won’t stop them from enjoying America’s pastime in the future either.
“I think fan safety and integrity of the game is really important so I think the city will learn and there’s not much you can do between random acts of violence like that,” Reeves said.