NINE people have suffered injuries in a shooting near England’s World Cup base in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police were called to reports of an incident on Troost Avenue — less than five miles, or a 10-minute drive, from the training base camp and a little further in the other direction to the team hotel England will use during the tournament — at around 4am on Saturday morning.
Kansas City Police Department captain Jake Becchina confirmed that officers had been dispatched after shots were heard being fired and arrived to find a large crowd dispersing.
Three adult females had sustained injuries and were taken to hospital.
It subsequently emerged that nine adults had gone to various local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. No suspects are in custody but officers are continuing to patrol the location.
On Thursday, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners accepted a $17million-dollar federal grant for World Cup security and safety, as detailed by KCTV5.
“We knew we needed the funding, so we kept moving forward with the planning,” KCPD Deputy Chief Derek McCollum is quoted as saying by the report. “We figured eventually that funding source would come through.”
England’s players and staff are currently in Palm Beach, Florida, where they are completing their World Cup preparations.
On Saturday they defeated New Zealand 1-0 in their first warm-up match in Tampa. They face Costa Rica at the Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando on Wednesday and fly to Kansas City on Saturday, June 13, where they will stay for the remainder of the tournament.
They will train at Swope Soccer Village, the home of Sporting KC’s reserve team and academy, to the south-east of the city.
Argentina and the Netherlands are also based in Kansas City. The World Cup holders will use Sporting KC’s main training facility, while the Dutch will train at the base of NWSL side Kansas City Current.
Kansas City is expecting around 650,000 visitors during the World Cup, an unusually high influx for the area, which poses significant safety and security challenges for the area.
The Athletic
