Reports of a Shooter at the Run for the Roses Basketball Tournament Were False

The Kentucky Exposition Center and Fairgrounds in Louisville, Ky., was evacuated on July 13 following reports that shots were fired inside the building. Now, many want to know what actually happened inside the Exposition Center.

The center was hosting the Run for the Roses basketball tournament, and the tournament obviously had to be interrupted by this evacuation. Here's what we know about what actually happened.

According to reporting from WLKY in Louisville, the center was evacuated because of false reports that shots had been fired. At 3:15 p.m. on July 13, Louisville Police received a call about an "active shooter" at the Expo Center, but after arriving at the building, they found no evidence of a shooter. Officers, along with Louisville Fire and emergency medical services, quickly entered the building and ascertained that there was no threat.

They reportedly found no victims and eventually determined that no shots had been fired.

"People just started running out, so I was like, 'OK, get outside.' I saw the fire alarms going off. So then I just assumed there was a fire. At one point, they allowed us to come back in, and then we were probably in there for like 10 seconds before everybody just started running back towards the doors," said Isaiah Flowers, the coach for Occidental College.

While police were inside the event center, another call came in suggesting that there was an active shooter at the Kentucky Kingdom in the water park. Officers quickly responded to that report as well and determined that it was also false.

Both the event center and Kentucky Kingdom were evacuated during the incident, which led to a flood of traffic in the area. The decision to evacuate Kentucky Kingdom reportedly came from officials in the park.

"So, while the Expo Center was obviously very packed, there's thousands of people inside, there was a women's basketball tournament going on," said an LMPD spokesperson. "So, I'd like to thank the officers and men and women of LMPD for their quick response. They acted professionally. I appreciate that."

A preliminary report showed that six people suffered scrapes and bruises while falling during the evacuation, but they were the only people injured.

"I don't want to go into any exact details at this moment, but there will be an investigation coming," the LMPD spokesperson added. The spokesperson also said that anyone who had committed a crime would be charged and prosecuted, and that two separate calls did come in.

While we don't know exactly why these calls were placed or what the motivation behind them might be, we can all be grateful that we're not living in a world where the attack was a real one. Evacuations and the disruption that comes with them can be difficult in and of themselves, but it's better than losing someone you love in a mass shooting, a frightfully common possibility in America today.