White Sox source confident gunfire at game came from outside; another expert disagrees
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering to help Chicago Police figure out how two people were shot inside Guaranteed Rate Field during a White Sox game last week.
There are still so many questions. Where did the bullets come from, and where is the gun now?
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov pushed for answers again Wednesday – reaching out to all relevant parties. One White Sox source did say they feel very strongly the gun was not in the ballpark when it went off.
Five days after White Sox security video showed commotion and gestures for help as the White Sox played the Oakland A's at Guaranteed Rate Field – exactly how two people got shot at that game is still a mystery.
"To the White Sox' credit, in the spirit of full transparency, they released the surveillance video – which I think was great in terms of their crisis communications," said sports security expert James DeMeo.
But while that was a transparent step, it is also where transparency – at least from investigators – gets a little blurry.
"Its coming from outside is something that we've almost completely dispelled, but we're still looking at every avenue," Interim Police Supt. Fred Waller said Monday.
Waller made his remarks in a two-minute briefing Monday before Mayor Brandon Johnson guided him away from the microphone rake. But White Sox sources said all of the evidence they have indicates the two bullets came from outside the ballpark.
That source said they had traced where the two victims entered the park, and no alarms were triggered when they went through metal detectors. They also traced the people who sat around them, and the source said none set off any alarms either.
"It really comes down to those risk assessments – ensuring that the machines are working properly," said DeMeo.
The security machines were working properly on Friday night, according to the White Sox source – who added all the park's metal detectors are set to the most sensitive settings.
Walter Enders studied the effectiveness of metal detectors at preventing skyjackings.
"Yes, metal detectors can fail for a couple of reasons," said Enders, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Alabama.
He said it was possible someone got a gun through the metal detectors.
"Metal detectors could fail because of the administrator, but they could also fail because of the way the sensitivity is set," Enders told CBS 2's Charlie De Mar.
Timothy Hicks is a firearms expert with Professional Analysis and Consulting and oversees a firearm certification testing lab. He does not agree with the Sox source's assessment.
"I think that it is more likely than not that it came from inside the park, as opposed to outside, opposed to outside," Hicks said.
Hicks has not personally reviewed any of the evidence from the shooting.
But as for the theory that shots came from outside the park, Hicks said the contention is poorly supported by physics.
"By the time it would have made that arc and then come down into the stands, I don't think there would be enough energy left to really do that level of injury to the person," he said.
Reporters attempted to ask Mayor Johnson for an update at an unrelated news conference Wednesday – and if there was any truth to social media reports that someone snuck the gun into Guaranteed Rate Field.
Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition – who led the news conference – said off-topic questions would not be taken.
"I'm really sorry, this has to be about immigration," Shi said. "That's what we're here for today."
Then, Mayor Johnson ducked out before the questions even ended.
A lawyer for one of the victims struck by a bullet says his client denies bringing a gun into the stadium and having anything to do with it going off. He did not return Kozlov's call or email for comment.
Police are also not releasing ballistics information, which would be able to identify the type of gun from which the bullets were fired.
The ATF said they will be helping the CPD out with ballistic testing.
