'It Was Really Surreal': Students, Parents Recall Shooting At Del City-Choctaw Football Game

Students and families fled terrified from Bill Jensen stadium after their Friday night lights turned into a nightmare. Some members of the Choctaw community returned to the field on Saturday, helping with cleanup and rounding up things that were left behind in the chaos. Now, witnesses paint a picture of the chaos that unfolded.

"You had a bang, and then a bang, bang immediately afterwards,” recalled Jared Johnson, a member of the Choctaw band. “And then the 5 to 7 that went out right after were all one after the other."

He'd just finished the first performance of his senior year.

"It'll always be the place I came to practice and the place I came to work," he said.

But now, that memory is forever changed.

“I remember hearing someone say 'oh my god they're shooting' and that panic started to really set in and everyone just went."

Some fled in fear, while some were frozen in fear.

"We heard the gunshots, and everybody started running,” said Allison Yarbrough, a Choctaw mother.

"But I was scared because I didn't know where they were coming from. So, we just huddled right down here until everything calmed down."

She revisited the spot where she huddled with her daughter on Saturday morning.

"It just was a lot and I guess it didn't hit me until this morning,” she said. “The magnitude of it and how it's affected so many of our children."

One of those kids affected was a cheerleader who was shot in the leg.

"I had seen her laid out on the table when we came down," Allison said.

When she fled the stadium she passed by Tomas Acosta, a Choctaw dad who came across the injured cheerleader while looking for his sons beneath the bleachers.

"Everybody sort of scattered right here and screamed,” said Allison Yarbrough. "The parents picked her up and put her on the table just right over here in the corner. One guy was holding his hand down on her thigh, her upper left thigh."

He helped administer first aid while they waited for first responders.

"It was really surreal,” he said. “It was just like muscle memory i was like quick apply pressure somebody get their belt make a tourniquet."

Friday night was a nightmare Choctaw residents and families will never forget.

"We are such a strong community. I know we'll come back from this but it's just tough," said Allison. "I know it happens but you really don't think it will ever happen to you."

News 9 will bring you updates on this developing story as they become available.