Chaos and violence erupted when hundreds of people showed up to get 99-cent sneakers from Adidas and Arizona Iced Tea - see what happened
We arrived at 10:30 a.m. There were hundreds of people lined up on The Bowery.
There were scattered police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances along the street of the pop-up location.
People were standing in line, but they seemed to have little idea about what was going on. There were rumors of an assault.
The crowd was at its thickest near the location of the would-be pop-up shop.
Here, there was a heavy presence of police officers and law enforcement. They were telling people to clear the area and keep moving because the event had been closed.
The NYPD later confirmed that two people had been assaulted at the event: a 15-year-old male and a 17-year-old female. No arrests had been made at the time.
An eyewitness to one of the assaults said that a representative from the pop-up informed the crowd that all tickets and wristbands required for entry were given away. People became agitated and shortly after, the eyewitness said they saw a woman get hit in the head with a bottle as she waited in line.
"I turned around and all of a sudden she was bleeding," the eyewitness said.
The eyewitness to the assault added: "This is too much. I can't be out here, risking my life for a pair of 99-cent sneakers."
Across the street, people were still waiting for information. Some were even standing in the middle of the street.
We found people near the pop-up location who said they had been waiting all night for the sneakers.
Justin Velez had been there with his friends since 1 a.m. He waited almost 10 hours overnight on the block of the store, only to leave with nothing after being told that only people with wristbands or tickets would be receiving the shoes.
"I was actually going to wear them," he said. "Other people are lined up to resell, but you know, I was one of the people who was actually going to wear them."
At some point earlier in the day, people in line were told that they would not be able to get in without a wristband or ticket.
"I don't see how that's fair to people who've been here since 7:00 in the morning waiting," said Shanely Perez, who had come from the Bronx to be there at that time.
But at 10:50 a.m., the line still wrapped around the block.
Even though police were saying the event had been shut down, people still appeared to be waiting around to get their sneakers.
"Nobody really wanted to believe it," said Jon Rodriguez, who had also been waiting in line.
“I’ve been on my feet for literally eight hours,” said Ayishatu Nuhu, who said she had slept for three hours the night before in order to get to the store early.
She added: "If it's happening tomorrow, I'll probably still show up anyway."
We found discarded cans of Arizona Iced Tea in the mud near the pop-up location ...
... as well as what looked like scattered debris from people who had camped out for hours.
Some people gave up and left, but others seemed to be waiting it out in the hopes of attaining some shoes.
Michael Ompod came prepared to the event at 6 a.m. with his Arizona backpack, iced tea, and single dollar bill. He left the pop-up empty-handed, but said he was thankful for his safety.
"I'm kind of actually glad I didn't get hurt today," he said. "I do feel bad for the people that got hurt today."
Popular Right Now
Advertisement