Fargo athletes and families gave themselves to shooting at the jubilee competition in Texas – Inforum

Dallas – jubilee athletes and their families from the Fargo area, who visited a national competition in Texas over the weekend, was involved in a fear of a possible active shooter.

The incident occurred at the All-Star National Championship of the National Cheerleaders Association in Dallas, an event with more than 1,700 teams from all over the country on Saturday, March 1st, with more than 1,700 teams.

Ultimately, it was not a shootout, but a fight among two parents who led to a massive response from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center reported the local media.

During the fight, several large poles were put down, which caused loud noises and the chaos triggered under the crowd.

The 13 -year -old Katie Brown from Fargo was with her parents to apply for North Dakota Elite, a cheer club in Fargo.

“I didn't know that there was no shooter because I had the feeling that I actually heard the recordings,” she told the forum.

Chad Brown said that he, his wife and daughter were only about 15 minutes in the congress center in the early Saturday afternoon and stood in a public area with Katie and a friend who took care of her hair before her competition.

Suddenly the family turned to see how people ran and wondered whether they hurried to meet a famous person in the competition.

“Then you can hear the screaming and you can hear the screaming and you know that it is not a good thing,” said Chad Brown.

He said about the same time that a person in the crowd would have had a seizure.

“Someone might have shouted” Loud “and the people might have heard” shooters “. Then everyone got up, stood in the panic and just started running,” he said.

The family was separated for a while, but Katie and her friend managed to stay together.

“We have gone through this disgusting muddy field with our white cheering shoes. We were both separated from our parents. I was the older one, so I just took care of her, I think, ”said Katie Brown.

Her parents used life 360 ​​and an air mark that was connected to her daughter's jubilee bag to track down them in a parking lot in 20 to 25 minutes where some participants had gathered.

“To be able to be connected to her was really everything that counted,” said Chad Brown.

Mary Anderson from Fargo, daughter Ava (11) and one of Ava's friends were also in the congress center in Dallas on Saturday afternoon.

AVA Anderson also trains in North Dakota Elite, but did not take part this weekend. Instead, she was there to be inspired by the older, higher athletes.

They had just come to their places and watched a team appeared when Anderson received a threatening message.

“I have an SMS from her friend's mother with her to say the active shooter hidden. I packed the girls, ”said Anderson.

They hurried to a closed section of the arena and found a men's bath to hide.

Finally, they were able to hear the police and security officers on Walkie talkies who accompanied the three into a large room.

There Andson grabbed folding chairs and put them over the girls as a protective measure and waited anxiously.

When they were able to leave the congress center, they saw people who had been injured because they had been kicked with feet. According to the local police, ten people were brought to hospitals for injuries that range from bruising to fractures.

The jubilee competition was closed as soon as the incident began and it was only found later on Saturday that it was resumed on Sunday morning.

Anderson only had praise for the coaches of North Dakota Elite, who found that they would compete on Sunday. Some teams decided to retreat from the competition.

“I couldn't be proud of how they spoke through things. They did everything they could and really took into account the feelings of everyone, ”said Anderson.

When Katie Brown returned to the congress center with her elite teammates in North Dakota on Sunday morning, she said that it was an “almost traumatic” area in which you are located.

However, this feeling quickly faded.

“I have the feeling that it was done better. It made it less scary, ”she said.