They said everyone panicked because they thought there was an active shooter at the NCA All Star Championship cheer event.
HOUSTON, Texas — Some people ducked for cover behind bushes and dumpsters Saturday during what they initially thought was an active shooter at the NCA All-Star Championship cheer competition in Dallas.
Ten people were taken to the hospital and the convention center was evacuated during the chaos at one of the world’s largest cheer events.
“Parents were crying, coaches were super scared,” cheerleader Ally Wells of Missouri City said. “One of my coaches actually had to go to the hospital. She got trampled.”
Dallas police said a fight among parents led to panic when a large pole was knocked over. The loud sound led to rumors of a possible shooter. Police later said there was no shooter and no shots fired.
“All we kept hearing was, ‘Active shooter, active shooter!'” Stars Vipers Katy owner Denise Cox told KHOU 11.
She and another coach scrambled to get 20 young girls on their team to safety.
“We gathered these little girls as good as we could and got outside and hid behind dumpsters until we felt it was safe,” Cox told KHOU 11. “I have never in my life felt such immense fear.”
Eleven-year-old Presli Hedt of Needville is on the Stars Viper Katy team.
“She was terrified and crying and all of her friends were as well,” mother Kasi Wells said.
She said she and Presli were separated for a time as everyone rushed out of the convention center.
“I just needed to get to her,” Hedt said. “I wasn’t going to leave until I had her in my arms,” an emotional Wells said.
Cox, who spoke with us on her way home Monday afternoon, said she’s never seen anything like it in 30 years of attending the event.
“Everybody was just screaming, ‘active shooter,’ so you don’t at that moment, you know, try and make a judgment call: is it real or not?” Cox said. “You just have to act.”
She told us her team discussed a safety plan on Sunday before competing and winning another award.
The NCA has pledged to ban those responsible for the fight from future events once they are identified. No arrests had been made as of Monday.
The NCA All-Star Championship will be held at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center for the next three years while the convention center in Dallas undergoes renovations. Houston First, which runs the GRB, says safety is of the utmost importance. They will have local law enforcement partners and other security personnel on hand.