Thanksgiving Day ended in tragedy when two people were shot and killed and four others wounded at an annual turkey-day football game in Louisville, Ky. Relatives and friends of the dead and wounded could be seen crying inconsolably on video taken by media outlets.
CNN reports that the shootings happened shortly before 2 p.m., during the annual Juice Bowl, a decadeslong tradition that fills Louisville’s Shawnee Park with children and adults for a series of football games.
The gunmen got away, and the motive for the shootings was unclear, according to Dwight Mitchell, a spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department. Four people were rushed to hospitals. Their condition is unknown, but Mitchell described their injuries as not life-threatening.
The city's mayor, Greg Fischer, was reportedly about 200 yards from the gunfire but was safely whisked away by security. In a Facebook post after the shooting, he called on the community to share any information about the shootings with law enforcement.
https://www.facebook.com/MayorGregFischer/posts/1329951357035825
Stephen Washburn was streaming a Facebook Live video when the shooting could be heard in the background. There were 19 shots. The shooters are not visible in the video.
The Thanksgiving Day deaths brought Louisville's 2016 homicide count to 106, according to local outlet WAVE. The record high was 110 homicides in 1971.
“We’ve had the annual Juice Bowl event going on for decades,” mayoral spokesman Chris Poynter said. “It’s a family event. It’s a festive atmosphere now marred by senseless violence.”