MEXICO CITY (AP) — A First Division Mexican soccer match was suspended Saturday after gunmen opened fire on police outside the stadium in the northern city of Torreon, causing players and referees to run for cover.
Local clubs Santos and Morelia were tied 0-0 at the 40-minute mark when the shots were heard inside the stadium.
Fans protect themselves after hearing a shooting outside the Corona's stadium, in Torreon, northern Mexico, on Aug. 20, 2011.(Xinhua/AP)
Televised footage showed the players and referees dashing off the field to take cover inside the stadium. Santos' Argentine forward Emanuel Luduena ran with his child in his arms.
Fans, many with children, ducked for cover and hundreds ran onto the field to move away from the sound of the gunfire outside TSM stadium.
Torreon police and local soccer officials said the attack left one police officer injured, but no one was hurt inside the stadium.
Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol near the stadium, said Fernando Olivas, the regional delegate for Coahuila state's attorney general's office.
"The public security vehicle was attacked by unidentified gunmen outside TSM and the preliminary information we have is that one policeman was injured," Olivas told Milenio TV.
Santos team president Alejandro Irarragorri went to the center of the field, accompanied by goaltender Oswaldo Sanchez, to announce that the game had been suspended.
"In the Santos club, we feel bad for the time in which we are living. It is evident that the game will be suspended," Irarragorri told the crowd. "You can be assured that we will try to control these situations. We are sorry for Morelia, The referees and those who are visiting us from elsewhere."
It is the first premiere league game that has been cancele in Mexico because of drug violence, though last year a baseball game was suspended in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, because of a similar incident.
Police did not say who the gunmen were, but Torreon has recently been the scene of fighting between the powerful Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartels.
Torreon is located about 621 miles north of Mexico City in the border state of Coahuila.
<한글기사>
축구장서 총성..선수, 관중 아비규환
(서울=연합뉴스) 장재은 기자 = 멕시코 프로축구 경기장에서 총성이 울리면서 시작된 선수와 관중의 집단 탈출 소동이 생중계되는 일이 발생했다.
21일(한국시간) 멕시코 북부도시 토레온의 TSM 스타디움에서 열린 프로축구 1부리그 산토스와 모렐리아의 경기에서 전반 40분에 갑자기 총성이 들려왔다.
경기 중에 일어난 사태라서 현장 상황은 텔레비전으로 그대로 방송됐다.
방송을 보면 선수들이 가장 먼저 황급하게 경기를 멈추고 스타디움 안으로 전력질주했다.
놀란 관중도 의자 밑으로 몸을 숨기거나 계단에 엎드린 채 사태의 진전에 촉각을 곤두세웠다.
2분 정도가 지나자 관중 수백 명도 출입구를 통해 경기장을 빠져나가거나 그라운드로 뛰어내린 뒤 지하로 피신했다.
AP통신은 현지 경찰과 리그 관계자들의 말을 빌려 총격전은 스타디움 외부에서일어났고, 바깥에 있던 경찰 한 명만 다쳤을 뿐 관중이나 선수 중에는 부상자가 없다고 전했다
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