By JENNA WISELTIER
Not long into the Global Citizen Music Festival that took place this past fall in Central Park, panic erupted when a gunshot-like sound frightened attendees.
The Global Citizen Music Festival, often referred to as Global Citizen, is a festival started in 2012 that advocates for many different social causes around the world such as ending child marriage, improved water access in India, and promoting life saving vaccines. Prior to the festival, attendees were expecting an exciting night of performances by their favorite artists such as Cardi B, Shawn Mendes, and John Legend.
However, the night took an unexpected and terrifying turn when a noise that was thought to be a gunshot sounded, causing attendees to immediately flee the scene in fear of injury. Later, the rumor spread that the noise originated from a fallen barrier, when in reality it was caused by someone stepping on and “popping” at least one drink bottle. While people were in tears, panicking and frantically calling their loved ones, many items were lost and friends were separated. Concertgoer and Jericho sophomore Tyler S. said, “When I first saw people running I thought there was a celebrity, but then I heard people screaming that there was a shooting and I immediately ran for my life in fear of being shot.”
Many were not even sure why there was a stampede. New York City resident Celia G. lives just minutes away from Central Park. She attended the festival and left only moments before the scare occurred. She was already in the car leaving when suddenly she noticed how many and how frantically people were vacating the premises. “My friend and I were outside of the park in an Uber when all of a sudden mobs of people started running out. We were stuck and the car couldn’t move because swarms of people were running out. We asked one person running what had happened and he said that there was a shooter,” she said.
Soon after it was confirmed that the sound did not come from a gun and that there was no active shooter at the festival. Unfortunately this did little to reduce the fears experienced by festival attendees. Many have used this event to comment on the all too real possibility of a mass shooting in today’s America. Tyler S. said, “The moment everyone began rushing out was probably the scariest moment of my life, because with all the shootings in the news it was kind of believable that it could be happening at such a big event like this.”
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