Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Boy, 10, shot in leg in freak incident on ‘Harry Potter Night’ at IronPigs game in Allentown

A bullet lodged in the back of the boy’s knee. Authorities said it may have been fired from as far as 2 miles away.

A section of outfield seats at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
A section of outfield seats at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.Read moreRICH SCHULTZ / For The Inquirer

ALLENTOWN — Before the start of Saturday night’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs game, 100 to 150 guests, many of them children, took to the field of Coca-Cola Park for the team’s promotional Harry Potter Night.

The guests, some dressed as their favorite characters, were in the outfield where they learned to play quidditch, the broomstick-riding sport made popular by the movies.

At some point during the fun, and without warning, a 10-year-old boy standing in right field fell to the ground in pain. His parents and others tended to him and discovered that he was bleeding from a puncture wound behind his knee. After alerting security, his parents took him to a hospital, where an X-ray revealed he had been shot, authorities said.

Allentown police investigated the bizarre shooting and determined that the boy likely was hit by a bullet fired into the air from another location, possibly as far as two miles away, IronPigs officials briefed on the case said Sunday.

“The police officers we were speaking to last night felt pretty confident, with 99 percent certainty, that someone shot into the air and it was just the horrible misfortune that it landed where it did,” general manager Kurt Landes said.

Allentown police found no signs that a shooting happened anywhere near the baseball stadium and were still investigating to determine where the shot was fired.

Landes said he spoke to the boy’s mother Saturday night and Sunday morning. The team sent a care package to the boy, who was transferred to a trauma unit. No further information on his condition was available Sunday.

The IronPigs, who play in the International League, are the triple-A affiliate of the Phillies.

For more on this story click here.

Manuel Gamiz Jr. can be reached at mgamiz@mcall.com.