Photo: Noam Galai/Getty
Blink-182has postponed a concert in El Paso, Texas slated for this weekend in light of themass shooting in a local Walmartthat left 20 people dead.
The popular band was scheduled to perform Sunday night at the Don Haskins Center at the University of Texas at El Paso, but have put the gig on hold in a show of support for the grieving community.
Blink-182, comprised of Mark Hoppus,Travis Barkerand Matt Skiba, have been on tour withLil Wayne, though the rapper wasnot scheduled to performSunday.
Hoppus, the band’s bassist and singer, said the El Paso hotel in which he was staying went under lockdown Saturday afternoon amid reports of a second active shooter that ultimately turned out to be a false alarm.
“We are locked down in our hotel in El Paso. Over the intercom system they just announced that there are reports of another active shooter directly across the street at a location different from the first shootings,” he wrote.
Hoppus, 47, said he was leaving breakfast when he received a text from his security team informing him that there was an active shooter “at the mall we were headed to,“ adding he “saw dozens of police cars on the freeway and surface streets. Helicopters. We got back to the hotel and turned on the news to see what was happening.”
The musician said that the hotel’s intercom system announced there was a second shooting at the Bassett Place Mall, which is located across the street from the hotel.
“I don’t see or hear police or helicopters so hopefully it’s just an overabundance of caution and someone got the malls confused. So terrible,” he wrote.
Hoppus later confirmed that reports of a separate incident at Bassett Place were incorrect, though he remained in his hotel with a federal agent guarding the door to the building.
Mark Hoppus.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
The other mall Hoppus was referring to was the Cielo Vista Mall, which houses the Walmart in which the shooter opened fire. Bassett Place and Cielo Vista are less than three miles apart.
Twenty people were killed and 26 were injured in the store, which was filled with as many as 3,000 people, many of whom were back-to-school shopping, according to multiple outlets.
The suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas, surrendered without incident to police. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime because of an apparent manifesto with white nationalist themes the suspect is believed to have written, authorities said.
Two women cry outside a reunification center in El Paso.JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ/AFP/Getty Images
In light of the tragedy, various stories of heroism have emerged, including that of 25-year-old Jordan Anchondo, whodied while shielding her 2-month-old sonfrom gunfire, according to theAssociated Press.
source: people.com
