Truck Plows Into Youth Soccer Game in Wichita, Killing Two and Injuring About Ten
A dark Chevrolet pickup drove onto a field during a youth soccer game at the Stryker Sports Complex in northeast Wichita on Saturday afternoon, killing two people and injuring about ten others in a tragedy that has shaken the Kansas soccer community.
Police identified the dead as Cole Adrian, 6, and Nicholas Schafer, 35, both of McPherson, Kansas. They were not related. The injured ranged in age from 5 to 68, including five children, and their injuries were described as non-life-threatening.
What Investigators Know So Far
The truck had been parked near the fields before it drove onto one during a game shortly before 3:30 p.m., according to a preliminary investigation. The driver, a 34-year-old woman from Garden City, Kansas, was taken into custody at the scene and later released without charges on Sunday pending toxicology results and a mechanical examination of the vehicle, as the Associated Press reported.
Two of her children were inside the pickup when it drove onto the field, police said, and another of her children was playing soccer on a different field at the complex. The driver is cooperating, and investigators say they have interviewed more than 30 witnesses. No charges have been filed. Police are reviewing how the truck reached the field, and they have not said whether the act was accidental or intentional.
A Community in Mourning
Witnesses described hearing an engine revving before loud impacts and debris, as parents and bystanders rushed onto the field to help the injured. Mayor Lily Wu called it a heartbreaking day for Wichita and cancelled all events at the complex. U.S. Soccer said Sunday it was “heartbroken” and expressed solidarity with the Wichita soccer community.
The wait for answers echoes other recent tragedies in which communities were left searching for explanations, including the investigation into the Bend school shooting. For the families in McPherson and Wichita, the grieving has already begun, in a country already anxious about children’s wellbeing.
The incident has also raised urgent questions about safety at large public sporting venues and how a vehicle was able to reach a field where children were playing. Investigators are expected to review the complex’s access points as part of their inquiries.
