The Benton Panthers and the Bryant Hornets held their annual Salt Bowl football game Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The game, which drew more than 38,000 fans on a steamy 92-degree day, was going along swimmingly—Bryant was leading 28-14 in the third quarter—when what sounded like gunshots caused panic in the stands and on the field:
It seems that once spectators started fleeing one area of the stadium, everyone in attendance got the idea that they should get the hell out of there as quickly as possible:
You can hear a loud banging or popping sound in this extremely chaotic video:
Reports from in and around the stadium say there were injuries amid all the chaos, and that traffic around the stadium was locked up in every direction with people fleeing the area. It was a scary scene, but it turns out it was caused by a dipshit fight between fans, and the echoing acoustics of the arena:
A Little Rock police officer told KARK that a taser may have also been used during the fight, which apparently also would’ve sounded like a gunshot. If a fight breaks out in a crowded football stadium and there are loud gunshot-like reports echoing around, a wise and understandable reaction is to leave the scene as quickly as possible. Arkansas is an open-carry state, and even if it wasn’t mass shootings are an American pastime, so the fear of firearms at a high school football game isn’t remotely unreasonable.
By the time the source of the panic was identified and calm was restored the crowd was too dispersed and the scene was too disheveled, and the decision was made by the two schools to cancel the remainder of the game.