A mistaken belief that someone had fired a gun set off a wave of panic at a Pride parade in Washington, D.C., on June 8 according to the Washington Blade.
Authorities said some of the people who were running sustained minor injuries; seven were taken to hospitals. Guillermo Rivera, a commander with the Metropolitan Police Department, said that "some of the individuals in the crowd said there was a man with a gun and that someone had fired a shot."
The man was taken into custody and charged with gun possession.
Further coverage is at www.washingtonblade.com/2019/06/09/altercation-by-straight-couple-triggered-panic-at-dc-pride-parade/ and at www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/08/panic-dc-pride-parade-sends-people-running-some-injured/1397956001/ .
UPDATE: A D.C. Superior Court judge released, pending trial, Aftabjit "DJ" Singha man charged with illegal possession of a BB gun in Dupont Circle during the parade, The Washington Blade reported. Singh claimed he pulled out the gun to protect a woman he calls his wife after an unidentified man assaulted her as she stood next to the Dupont Circle fountain.
Singh said the unidentified man and another man who he believes were opposed to the Pride parade that had been traveling past Dupont Circle sprayed him and Melissa Duffy with mace after he attempted to stop the first man from punching Duffy. (Singh said he and Duffy are not legally married, in part, because of his status as an undocumented immigrant from India.)