Adelaide Crows co-captain, 2 x time AFLW best and fairest winner and former Olympic basketballer Erin Phillips has tweeted about her terrifying ordeal at the Pride Parade in Washington DC yesterday, when a man wielding a BB gun set off fears of a shooting incident during the festivities, causing many people to run from the parade in a panic.
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Phillips, who married wife Tracey Gahan in the US in 2014, tweeted that the gun-related incident occurred just metres from where she was standing.
I was only about 100m from a suspected shooting at the DC Pride parade. Ran and hid with the thousands of others in complete fear. How has the world come to this? The world my kids will grow up in. 😥
— Erin Phillips OAM (@erinphillips131) June 9, 2019
Her addition of “How has the world come to this?” really hits in the feels, whether she’s talking about gun violence or attacks on LGBTQI people, or both.
Washington DC police arrested Aftabjit Singh on weapons possession and disorderly conduct charges after the incident, which saw many injured as they ran panicked from the scene.
ABC News reports that Singh had “pulled the BB gun on another person who was ‘hitting on his significant other’”, adding that Singh said he’d come back and “shoot a particular person”.
Organisers shut down the Pride Parade after the incident, but other planned Pride events went ahead as planned.
A message from @CapitalPrideDC. We are also thankful that there were no major injuries and are hopeful that today’s festival is a success. We are looking forward to seeing you all today! Stop by the Impulse DC booth and pick up some new swag!#CapitalPride2019 #WeAreImpulseDC pic.twitter.com/C8qtsNqqhT
— Impulse Group DC (@impulsegroupdc) June 9, 2019