For the U.S. women’s national team, Thursday’s deadly shooting in Auckland was sadly reminiscent of so many similar events back home.
A gunman in downtown Auckland killed two and wounded several others before he was also found dead in an incident on the morning of the first two Women’s World Cup games.
The shooting took place close to the USWNT team hotel in Auckland, where they will kick off the World Cup against Vietnam on Saturday afternoon local time.
At a press conference, USWNT forward Lynn Williams said that it was difficult to reckon with the shooting while also trying to focus on preparing for the team’s opener.
“Unfortunately, I feel like in the U.S. we’ve dealt with this far too many times,” Williams said.
“But there was definitely a sense of, ‘Let’s come together, we still have a job to do,’ but also recognizing that there were lives lost and that is very real and very devastating.
“We were just thankful that we were safe, that the first responders came in and everything was very quick. Our security was very swift to say, ‘Look, we can’t go anywhere right now. We need to make sure you guys are safe first.’ There was a sense around the team that we recognize that this is devastating. And then once we were able to go to training we were like, ‘We have to focus on the job at hand.'”
U.S. Soccer released a statement shortly after the incident, saying: “All of our players and staff are accounted for and safe. Our security team is in communication with local authorities and we are proceeding with our daily schedule.”
USWNT defender Crystal Dunn added that the team is looking to support one another in any way they can.
“This is very real and our condolences are with the families of the victims and the lives that were lost,” Dunn said.
“Everyone handles these situations differently. So it’s important to give people the space that they need to work through the trauma that has occurred today, but understanding that we’re a unified team.
“We give people the space that they need and hopefully we’re able to get on the pitch and just have a kick around and just try to be connected again in a tough day.”
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