Mexican top-flight game abandoned after gunfire
Source: Agencies |
August 22, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GUNMEN opened fire on police outside the stadium during a Mexican first division game in the northern city of Torreon on Saturday, causing players and referees to run for cover.
Santos Laguna and Morelia were locked 0-0 after 40 minutes when the shots were heard inside the stadium. The game was suspended.
Televised footage showed the players and officials dashing off the field to take cover inside the stadium. Santos' Argentine forward Emanuel Luduena ran with his child in his arms.
Fans, many with children, ducked for cover and hundreds ran onto the field to move away from the sound of the gunfire outside TSM Stadium; home of Santos Laguna.
Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol near the stadium, said Fernando Olivas, the regional delegate for Coahuila State's attorney general's office.
"The public security vehicle was attacked by unidentified gunmen outside TSM and the preliminary information we have is that one policeman was injured," Olivas told Milenio TV.
Police did not say who the gunmen were, but Torreon has recently been the scene of fighting between the powerful Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartels.
Santos President Alejandro Irarragorri went to the center of the field, accompanied by goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, to announce that the game had been suspended.
"At the Santos club, we feel bad for the time in which we are living. It is evident that the game will be suspended," Irarragorri told the crowd. "You can be assured that we will try to control these situations. We are sorry for Morelia, the referees and those who are visiting us from elsewhere."
Last year, a baseball game was suspended in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, because of a similar incident.
Saturday's incident was the first time a soccer match in Mexico's top division had to be suspended due to violence since Felipe Calderon became president in late 2006.
Santos Laguna and Morelia were locked 0-0 after 40 minutes when the shots were heard inside the stadium. The game was suspended.
Televised footage showed the players and officials dashing off the field to take cover inside the stadium. Santos' Argentine forward Emanuel Luduena ran with his child in his arms.
Fans, many with children, ducked for cover and hundreds ran onto the field to move away from the sound of the gunfire outside TSM Stadium; home of Santos Laguna.
Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol near the stadium, said Fernando Olivas, the regional delegate for Coahuila State's attorney general's office.
"The public security vehicle was attacked by unidentified gunmen outside TSM and the preliminary information we have is that one policeman was injured," Olivas told Milenio TV.
Police did not say who the gunmen were, but Torreon has recently been the scene of fighting between the powerful Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartels.
Santos President Alejandro Irarragorri went to the center of the field, accompanied by goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, to announce that the game had been suspended.
"At the Santos club, we feel bad for the time in which we are living. It is evident that the game will be suspended," Irarragorri told the crowd. "You can be assured that we will try to control these situations. We are sorry for Morelia, the referees and those who are visiting us from elsewhere."
Last year, a baseball game was suspended in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, because of a similar incident.
Saturday's incident was the first time a soccer match in Mexico's top division had to be suspended due to violence since Felipe Calderon became president in late 2006.
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