Audience Members Injured After Stampede at Hamilton Performance 

By Emily Alford  |  February 17, 2019 | 10:00pm
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A Friday night performance of Hamilton at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre ended in a stampede when the audience confused a medical emergency, coupled with staged gunfire in the play, for an active shooter.

According to People, a woman in the audience had a heart attack, and rescuers pulling a nearby defibrillator off the wall triggered an alarm in the theater. Unfortunately, this happened at the same time a scene in the play depicted a duel featuring the sound of gunfire.

The confusion resulted in what the San Francisco Fire Department described as an “an unorganized rapid exit of the theater.” Four people were injured and subsequently hospitalized as a result of the stampede, with one suffering a broken leg. The audience member who had the heart attack was also rushed to the hospital and reportedly listed as being in critical condition as of Friday night.

Multiple videos posted to social media show the chaos:

The audience, however, stuck around to applaud the cast as they returned to the theater.

 
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