A panic caused by a mistaken belief that a gun had been fired during a pride parade in Washington on Saturday evening sent people running through the streets of the US capital, city officials said.
Police said some of the people who ran sustained minor injuries and seven were taken to hospitals.
“As the officers were going to the scene, there was a crowd of people going away from it, and some of the individuals in the crowd said there was a man with a gun and that someone had fired a shot,” Metropolitan Police Department Commander Guillermo Rivera said.
The man was taken into custody and is facing a gun possession charge, Rivera said.
City officials said no shots were fired.
“There is NO Active Shooter at Dupont Circle. There are injuries from people running from what they thought were gunshots. But there is NO ACTIVE SHOOTER at Dupont Circle,” Washington Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kevin Donahue said on Twitter shortly after the incident.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Twitter that she had been briefed by police and there were “no shots fired.”
Fire department personnel were “on the scene to treat minor injuries / due to reports of a shooting,” she wrote.
Elizabeth Hernandez, 19, was among the thousands celebrating LGBTQ pride in the city when she said she heard “pop, pop,” and suddenly barricades were being tossed over and a crowd of people starting running frantically from the area.
“Everything fell and everyone said: ‘Run!”’ Hernandez said.
She ran down the block and was pushed into a restaurant, where she went into a bathroom with a group of fellow revelers.
Ashley Smith, the president of Capital Pride Alliance, which put on the event, said he saw people running from Dupont Circle.
“We cannot allow this incident, until we know all the facts of it, we cannot allow this incident to ruin the pride celebration going on this weekend,” Smith said. “We’re very focused on wanting to make sure we continue to have a great event for the rest of the weekend.”
He said the group spends extensive time planning security procedures.
Rivera said police felt they had an “adequate amount of resources on the ground, which is why we were able to respond so quickly.”
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