Chaos erupted just outside the “secure zone” of Chicago’s Navy Pier on the Fourth of July when three people, including two teens, were stabbed during a fight — and then 14 more were trampled in an ensuing stampede after someone yelled “Gun!,” according to a new report.
The mayhem started once the fireworks display had finished, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. A group of men was squabbling and gang signs were flashed, prompting the stabbing, according to the report.
A 15-year-old boy was stabbed in the armpit, and a 14-year-old boy was stabbed in the arm and rib, the paper reported. Both were taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where their conditions have stabilized.
Another man, 30, was stabbed in the face and arm, but he wasn’t involved in the fight and couldn’t remember any details of the incident, according to the report. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was also stabilized.
Then someone in the crowd yelled “Gun!,” prompting a stampede of more than 60,000 people away from the pier, Chicago police Sgt. Rocco Alioto said at a news conference, according to the report. Fourteen people were trampled during the fracas and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Initial reports stated that a person was shot, but that person was actually a man who punctured his leg when he ran into an overturned table during the stampede, Alioto added. No shots were fired, he said.
The stabbing occurred just outside the pier’s “secure zone,” where Navy Pier security conducted bag checks for all those present, according to Alioto. He called the security measures “effective,” according to the report.
The streets around the area were littered with all kinds of personal belongings as pier-goers made a run for it, the paper reported.
A 45-year-old woman told the outlet she lost some of her relatives during the stampede, and was in tears as she reunited with some of her cousins about 45 minutes later. Then they went searching for the rest of the family.
“Just chaos. Chaos. That’s all it was,” she told the paper. “We got separated from each other because everyone went in different directions when it started. But thank God, he got us all back together. That’s all that matters.”



