Panic is ugly and crazy. Crowd panic is worse. People who (even falsely) believe they are running from danger behave exactly the same as people who are running from actual danger.
If you didn't personally hear shots, keep your mind free and open to all explanations, and when you ask people for reports, ask if their information was from their own eyes and ears, or from someone else. It's also possible someone showed a gun, inspiring panic, but that it was never fired. Now you know for real why yelling "fire!" in a theater is the go-to example for causing panic.
Sorry you had to go through that. Stay sane, and help where you can.
That was my experience a few years ago. I was in a poker room when people at tables closer to the room’s front entrance got up and ran for the back of the room, some screaming about a shooter. I didn’t hear gunshots, so I stayed seated. I was about the only one besides some of the dealers who stayed put as everyone else stampeded past. I put my chips in my pocket and watched the entrance. Then a few state troopers ran by, one of them carrying an M16.
What had happened was there was a dindu who stole a car near DC and led the police on a chase north on 295. He figured he would go to the casino to try to blend in with the crowd. He didn’t shoot at anything in or around the casino, which is why I didn’t hear gunshots. The police chasing him in and carrying a big rifle are what freaked people out. It was a domino of mass formation. Once someone started shouting about a shooter or shooting, the lemmings disabled any critical thinking they might have had and didn’t think about the lack of evidence of a shooting, such as gunshots. Some people got injured in the stampede, and when people returned there were arguments about knocked over chips, etc.
We shouldn’t have to live in a society with dindu car thieves. Or where one dindu car thief can panic hundreds or thousands of people. But the most dangerous situation I witnessed was the pants-pooping behavior of the lemmings.
Yup. That's scary. I've been around people, individuals, who become worse than useless in certain situations, dangerous to themselves and others, but mostly others.
Panic is ugly and crazy. Crowd panic is worse. People who (even falsely) believe they are running from danger behave exactly the same as people who are running from actual danger.
If you didn't personally hear shots, keep your mind free and open to all explanations, and when you ask people for reports, ask if their information was from their own eyes and ears, or from someone else. It's also possible someone showed a gun, inspiring panic, but that it was never fired. Now you know for real why yelling "fire!" in a theater is the go-to example for causing panic.
Sorry you had to go through that. Stay sane, and help where you can.
That was my experience a few years ago. I was in a poker room when people at tables closer to the room’s front entrance got up and ran for the back of the room, some screaming about a shooter. I didn’t hear gunshots, so I stayed seated. I was about the only one besides some of the dealers who stayed put as everyone else stampeded past. I put my chips in my pocket and watched the entrance. Then a few state troopers ran by, one of them carrying an M16.
What had happened was there was a dindu who stole a car near DC and led the police on a chase north on 295. He figured he would go to the casino to try to blend in with the crowd. He didn’t shoot at anything in or around the casino, which is why I didn’t hear gunshots. The police chasing him in and carrying a big rifle are what freaked people out. It was a domino of mass formation. Once someone started shouting about a shooter or shooting, the lemmings disabled any critical thinking they might have had and didn’t think about the lack of evidence of a shooting, such as gunshots. Some people got injured in the stampede, and when people returned there were arguments about knocked over chips, etc.
We shouldn’t have to live in a society with dindu car thieves. Or where one dindu car thief can panic hundreds or thousands of people. But the most dangerous situation I witnessed was the pants-pooping behavior of the lemmings.
Yup. That's scary. I've been around people, individuals, who become worse than useless in certain situations, dangerous to themselves and others, but mostly others.