Sunday 18 October 2026
A truck drives through a youth soccer game in Wichita, killing a boy of 6 and a man of 35 and sending 11 people to hospital
A 34 year old woman drove a pickup truck across a youth soccer field at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday afternoon, killing a boy of 6 and a man of 35 and hospitalising 11 other people, Wichita police said. The driver, the mother of a child playing at the complex, is in custody, and police say they do not yet know why the truck entered the field, as of October 18.
It happened in the middle of an ordinary Saturday of youth soccer, and it took seconds. At about 3:25 in the afternoon, a pickup truck drove from the east side of the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita across to a field on the west end where a game was under way, and struck the people in its path.
A boy of 6 and a man of 35 were pronounced dead at the scene. Police Captain Aaron Moses said the two were not related to each other. Eleven other people were taken to hospital, ten of them with traumatic injuries. Five were children aged 5 through 9. Moses said some of the injuries were serious but not believed to be life threatening, as of October 18.
The driver is a woman of 34 who had two children of her own inside the truck. She is the mother of a child who was playing soccer at the complex at the time, though not on the field the truck crossed, and she was taken into custody at the scene. Witness accounts given at the police briefing said she cried out in horror as parents pulled her from the vehicle. Moses said she has been cooperative with investigators. Police have not said whether they believe the act was intentional, and they have not released her name.
What the cameras did not capture, the people on the sidelines did. Before the first ambulances arrived, parents and spectators moved onto the field and began giving aid to the wounded. Police Chief Joe Sullivan credited them directly. It was truly amazing, he said, and indicative of the Wichita community.
Mayor Lily Wu asked residents to stay away from the area while the investigation runs and said the news was heartbreaking, with her thoughts and prayers with everyone affected, especially the children and families involved. Police said there is no further threat to the public. All events at the complex were cancelled, and the investigation into how and why the truck reached the field is still open.
The picture with this story is an illustration, not a photograph.
Spotted an error in this story? Email [email protected] and it will be checked against the sources.