Naomi Osaka news: Former world No 1 left ‘f****** petrified’ amid false alarm of active shooter

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Naomi Osaka talks to the media

Naomi Osaka has lamented the “insanity” of the “same terrible cycle” of gun violence in the United States after she was left “f****** petrified” during an active shooting at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which turned out to be a false alarm.

Shortly after the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero boxing match at the Barclays, four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka and hundreds of other people fled from the building after it was reported that shots were fired.

However, the New York Police Department denied that any shots were fired, but several people were injured in the stampede.

Osaka took to Twitter after the incident to express just how frightened she was.

“I was just in the Barclays center and suddenly I heard shouting and saw people running, then we were being yelled at that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and close the doors, I was so fucking petrified man,” she wrote.

Adding: “I really hope everyone made it out safely, since I’m tweeting this we made it out ok.”

However, after it emerged that no shots were fired, Osaka posted another lengthy message about the “insanity” of mass shottings in the United States.

“I’m not sure when it happened but over many years I became accustomed to news about mass shootings,” she wrote. “It felt as though we just kept repeating the same terrible cycle to the point where I felt my brain turn a switch and start preparing for possibilities in case I would be in a similar situation.

“I used to love going to the movies, now on the rare occasion I do go I always feel my heart clench and my palms become sweaty every time I see a person enter the theater while the movie is going.

“My experience the other day made me think a lot, I was lucky enough to have a security guard with me and I cannot imagine having to navigate through that situation by yourself, let alone being a child and it not being a false alarm.

“This feeling of familiarity towards these frequent devastation situations might be exclusive to people living in America but the emotions I experienced in those few minutes I was waiting in that room was something I wouldn’t want anyone to go through.

“I read an article the other day about how bulletproof backpacks are selling more and more and that made cry so hard. I cannot imagine a future if this continues, something has to evolve and hopefully it will be for the better because [sic] should not be deemed normal, this is insanity.”

Naomi Osaka

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