WICHITA, Kan. — A 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, both from McPherson and not related to each other, were pronounced dead at the scene Saturday after a truck was driven onto a field at a Wichita soccer complex during a youth game.
Eleven people were taken to hospitals, five of them children aged 5 to 9, police said. Ten had traumatic injuries that Capt. Aaron Moses of the Wichita Police Department said ranged from bruises to “extremely severe injuries,” though police believe none is life-threatening.
Police can say who and where. They cannot yet say why. Dispatchers in Sedgwick County began taking calls around 3:25 p.m. Central, Moses said, and Police Chief Joe Sullivan said investigators “know what happened” but are “working very hard to find out why it happened, and we’re not there yet.”
The driver is a 34-year-old woman from Garden City who was taken into custody, NBC News reported. Moses said she has been cooperative and that two juveniles were in the vehicle with her. Fox News reported that police believe she had a child playing soccer at the complex that day, though not on the field where the crash happened, and that she held a valid license with no outstanding arrest warrants.
In a post on X, Wichita Police said officers were investigating a “mass casualty incident involving a vehicle” and that there was “no further ongoing threat at this time.”
Police said investigators have interviewed more than 30 witnesses at the scene and are reviewing video and photographs. A department notice asked anyone with footage to submit it, however minor they think it is.
The city of Wichita has canceled all events at the complex until further notice, CBS News reported. The Kansas State High School Activities Association suspended its girls flag football state championship, with games not resuming this weekend. Mayor Lily Wu said, “Tonight, Wichita grieves together.” Gov. Laura Kelly said she was monitoring the situation and had offered state resources to Wu, adding condolences “to the families of the victims, the survivors, and all those impacted by this event.”
As of the latest reports reviewed, no charges had been announced, and authorities had not confirmed whether the driver acted intentionally or whether a medical emergency, impairment or another factor caused the crash. NBC News and ABC News identify the dead only by age and hometown.
