Kansas driver who allegedly killed two and hurt 10 at soccer game is released from custody | Kansas

A woman who was arrested on Saturday after she drove a truck through a youth soccer game in Wichita, Kansas – killing a boy and a man – has been released from custody without charges pending further investigation, according to authorities.

In a statement on Sunday, the Wichita police department said investigators were awaiting the results of toxicology testing on the driver, whom the agency would only describe as a 34-year-old woman. Police said they were also waiting for “a mechanical examination” of the pickup truck that the woman was driving at the time she struck and killed six-year-old Cole Adrian and Nicholas Schafer, 35.

Adrian and Schafer were both from McPherson, Kansas, about an hour drive north of Wichita, police said. They were not relatives of each other, according to police – while a competitive youth soccer club from McPherson called their deaths “an unimaginable tragedy”.

Ten other people were injured in a case that caused horror well beyond Wichita. Police said the injured included five children: two girls ages five and nine, a five-year-old boy, and two boys age eight.

The rest of those hurt were women aged 28, 59 and 65, as well as men aged 32 and 68, police said.

Those 10 victims had wounds that were considered traumatic but not life-threatening, police said.

Police also said that an 11th person, a 61-year-old woman, experienced medical complications that were unrelated to traumatic injuries.

As investigators put it, the woman at the center of the case was parked at the Stryker Sports Complex in north-east Wichita when she drove on to soccer fields there at about 3.25pm on Saturday. Emergency personnel responding to calls that the pickup driver struck multiple children and adults arrived to treat the victims while police detained the woman at the wheel of the truck.

The woman had two of her children in the pickup with her, and a third was playing soccer elsewhere at the complex, police said.

The two children in the driver’s truck were among more than 30 witnesses whom investigators interviewed, police said.

Police said they later released the driver from custody without charges after consulting with the local Sedgwick county district attorney’s office. While “no charges have been filed at this time … investigators continue working to determine the circumstances that led to the crash”.

Police said the woman had a valid driver’s license, no outstanding warrants and was from Garden City, Kansas, about three and a half hours west of Wichita. They discussed little else about her.

Meanwhile, the McPherson City FC competitive youth soccer club said in a Facebook post on Saturday that it had “suffered an unimaginable tragedy at Stryker Soccer Complex”.

“We ask that you keep all those involved in your thoughts and prayers,” the club’s post continued. “Dealing with a loss of this magnitude also calls for privacy and respect for all our soccer community. Please allow time for healing and grieving to take place and be there for those that seek guidance.”

After saying that McPherson City FC would later publish further information in regards to the club and its upcoming events, the post concluded: “Please hold your loved ones tight tonight.”

McPherson’s municipal government wrote in its own Facebook post: “Our community is hurting, and we stand together, and in support.”

“Stay strong, McPherson,” that post also said. “Be there [and] be kind.”

Wichita’s police chief, Joe Sullivan, added that the hearts of those at his agency “are with the families of Adrian and Nicholas as they face an unimaginable loss”.

“What should have been a day of children playing soccer and families spending time together ended in tragedy,” Sullivan said. “We are also thinking about those who were injured, their loved ones and everyone who witnessed what happened.

“We know this tragedy has affected many people throughout our community, and we want those families to know they are not alone. Our officers and investigators will continue working to understand exactly what happened.”

Stryker Sports Complex announced that all events had been cancelled there until further notice.

“We ask that you keep all individuals and families affected in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” the complex also said in its announcement. “Please avoid the complex to allow emergency personnel to carry out their work.

“Updates regarding future events will be shared as information becomes available.”

Separately, the Kansas State High School Activities Association also suspended its third-place and championship flag football games, which had been scheduled for later on Saturday at the complex.

“The KSHSAA extends our condolences to the families and teams [affected] by the incident,” the association said.

The organization said it planned on providing details about rescheduled games on Monday.

Saturday marked the second time in less than 26 years that the Stryker complex – near the corner of Wichita’s North Greenwich Road and East 29th Street – was at the center of a high-profile, deadly case.

Brothers named Jonathan and Reginald Carr were convicted of shooting five people – including four fatally – on a snow-covered field there in December 2000 during a crime spree that also involved robbery, rape and torture, according to information culled from court filings and media reports.

The Carrs were sentenced to die over what some have referred to as the “Wichita massacre”. And in July, Kansas governor Laura Kelly denied their requests for their death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.