A truck drove through a Wichita youth soccer game Saturday, killing two people including a 6-year-old boy and sending 11 others to hospitals as police seek answers.
First responders rushed to the Stryker Soccer Complex in Wichita, Kansas, after multiple 911 calls around 3:25 p.m. CT on Saturday. A Chevrolet pickup had driven through a youth soccer game. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene. Eleven others went to local hospitals.
ABC News reported that police identified the dead as 6-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer, both of McPherson, Kansas. The driver was a 34-year-old woman from Garden City, Kansas. Her name was not released.
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said investigators know what happened but not why. As of Sunday afternoon, no charges had been filed. The driver was released from custody pending toxicology testing and a mechanical exam of the truck.
Five of the injured were children ages 5 to 9. Five adults ranged from a 28-year-old woman to a 68-year-old man. A 61-year-old woman was also hospitalized with medical complications unrelated to traumatic injuries from the truck. Injuries ran from bruises to extremely severe.
When officers arrived, the pickup sat on the west end of the field. Bystanders were already helping the wounded. Investigators later interviewed more than 30 witnesses, including two juveniles who were inside the truck.
Capt. Aaron Moses told reporters the driver stayed with the vehicle and has cooperated. One of her children was playing soccer at the complex that day, but not on the field where the truck drove through.
Moses said of the driver:
"She has been cooperative to this point in the investigation."
Sullivan described the human cost in plain terms. Families faced a loss no parent expects on a Saturday built around kids and a ball.
The chief said:
"We know what happened, but now we're working very hard to find out why it happened, and we're not there yet."
Sullivan praised people on the scene who did not wait for sirens. He said they sprang into action and gave life-saving help until first responders arrived.
He called their response amazing and said it reflected the Wichita community. That kind of immediate aid often decides who lives long enough to reach a hospital. The record so far credits those bystanders, not a delayed official response.
Sullivan said families "face an unimaginable loss" after "what should have been a day of children playing soccer and families spending time together ended in tragedy."
The city of Wichita posted on Facebook Saturday afternoon that all events at the sports complex were canceled until further notice. Officials asked the public to keep the affected families in their thoughts and prayers.
Mayor Lily Wu said the city was grieving together. She noted that families had come to Stryker Sports Complex for a normal Saturday of youth soccer. No one expected the scene that followed.
Wu said:
"Families came to Stryker Sports Complex to enjoy a Saturday afternoon watching their children play soccer. No one could have imagined the tragedy that would unfold."
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she was monitoring the situation and staying in touch with the mayor. She offered condolences to the victims’ families, the survivors, and everyone hit by the crash.
Stryker Soccer Complex said its hearts were heavy and that it was holding the injured, their families, and witnesses in its thoughts and prayers.
Police asked the public for patience and for any pictures or video from the complex. Toxicology results and the mechanical review of the Chevrolet pickup were still pending Sunday. Without those findings, the “why” remains unfinished business.
The driver has not been charged. Moses said she has been cooperative. Two juveniles were in the pickup; their ages and exact relationship to the driver were not detailed in the initial police account beyond the witness interviews.
Cole Adrian was 6. Nicholas Schafer was 35. Both were from McPherson. A youth soccer Saturday in Wichita ended with two deaths, a field full of injured children and adults, and an open file on how a pickup ended up driving through the game.
Parents take kids to public fields expecting lines, referees, and a safe ride home, not a truck on the pitch and a waiting hospital list. When the tests and the witness file are complete, the public will need clear answers and full accountability for whatever put that vehicle on the field.
