Witnesses recalled the haunting words a Kansas mother shouted seconds after barrelling her pickup truck through a youth soccer field, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man while injuring 10 others.
On October 17, families had gathered at Wichita’s Stryker Sports Complex for an afternoon of youth soccer, including Erica Case, who was following her 9-year-old son’s game on a neighboring field when the sound of a revving engine cut through the afternoon.
Case turned toward the commotion and saw a pickup truck speeding across the complex.
“I saw the truck hitting things. I saw debris flying in the air,” Case told NBC News. “I don’t know if it was a cone, a chair or a person, but you could see matter flying as the truck was barreling through the soccer field at a decent rate of speed.”
Nearby, David Griekspoor, who had come to watch his nephew play, also witnessed the crash.
“It sounded like small gunfire,” Griekspoor recalled, imitating the noise as “Bap, bap, bap.”
“You look up, and you just see the truck going through a line of people,” he added.
Case said she was horrified when she realized what was happening.
“The moment that I recognized that that wasn’t gunshots, that that was bodies, I lost it,” she said. “I lost it because it wasn’t just adults. It was also children.”
Two killed, 10 injured
As emergency crews arrived, spectators were already helping the injured, including several young children who had been struck by the truck.
“There are a lot of silent heroes that I know experienced much worse than I did, having to do mouth-to-mouth or CPR on somebody that’d been ran over by a truck,” Case said.
According to Wichita Police, 6-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer, both from McPherson, Kansas, died from their injuries. Schafer, a father of three, and Adrian are not related.
Another 10 people were injured, ranging in age from 5 to 68, including two 5-year-olds, two 8-year-olds and a 9-year-old.
As families dealt with the aftermath, police worked to piece together how a truck had ended up on a field filled with children and spectators.
Kids in car when it crashed
Investigators said the Chevrolet pickup “was parked in a parking space near the soccer fields before it drove onto one of the fields, striking multiple children and adults.”
Behind the wheel was a 34-year-old Wichita mother, who had one child playing soccer on another field at the complex, and two other children in the vehicle with her when it crashed, according to ABC News.
The driver has since been “released pending the results of toxicology testing and a mechanical examination of the vehicle. No charges have been filed at this time, and investigators continue working to determine the circumstances that led to the crash,” police report.
The tragedy has devastated the families of those killed and injured, while leaving witnesses struggling with the images and sounds of an afternoon they had expected to spend watching soccer.
‘Our hearts are with the families’
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan acknowledged that pain in a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and thanking the bystanders who rushed to help.
“Our hearts are with the families of Adrian and Nicholas as they face an unimaginable loss. What should have been a day of children playing soccer and families spending time together ended in tragedy,” Sullivan said.
“We are also thinking about those who were injured, their loved ones and everyone who witnessed what happened,” he continued. “We know this tragedy has affected many people throughout our community, and we want those families to know they are not alone.”
Mother’s haunting words
But amid the confusion immediately following the crash, witnesses recalled the moment involving the woman behind the wheel.
As bystanders rushed to help the injured and pull the driver from her pickup, witnesses heard the mother utter words that captured the horror of the tragedy.
According to the New York Post, witnesses said she shouted out, “Oh my God, Oh my God, what have I done?”
Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost their lives and everyone affected by this tragedy. Please join us in sending your condolences and best wishes to the victims’ loved ones in the comments below.
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