SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
As a deadly shooting occurred in Wednesday’s pre-opening day in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday took the course in first-round play of the Women’s World Cup Soccer Championship played in New Zealand and Australia.
The morning shooting took place in a section of the country’s largest city where a gunman killed three people at a downtown construction site roughly 12 hours ahead of co-host New Zealand’s match against Norway, which was within a short distance of the shooting in the tourist area of the city near the harbor ferry terminal.
Norway captain Maren Mjelde said her teammates were awaken by a helicopter hovering outside their hotel.
“We felt safe the whole time,” Mjelde said in a statement,
Officials from Ed Park, where the game was scheduled to be played following an opening ceremony for the tournament, encouraged ticket holders to arrive at the stadium early.
The gunman was found dead in an elevator, and in addition to the three dead, four others were injured, including a police officer who was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Thus, with the FIFA World Cup kicking off in a short time, there will probably be a lot of eyes on Auckland. Meanwhile, soccer’s world governing body has been informed that this is an isolated occident that was not related to football operations and the opening match will proceed as planned.
