Pretty sure I’d deny this too, even if it is true. Not only does this woman have to worry about potential criminal charges after a gun was discharged during a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland A’s last Friday, but how she allegedly got a gun through security is awfully embarrassing.

According to unofficial sources, the woman was able to bring the gun past metal detectors by hiding it in her rolls of belly fat; a charge that the woman’s attorney vehemently denied on Tuesday.

Citing a source, Sports Mockery claimed the woman set off the metal detector three different times. The publication claimed one of the sources assumed security “did not want to overstep their boundaries when further checking the woman’s body after the metal detectors continued to go off.”

On Tuesday night, attorney John Malm – representing the 42-year-old woman – said his client did not bring the gun into the stadium and had nothing to do with the gunfire:

“Our client underwent emergency medical treatment for a gunshot wound she received while attending a baseball game. She denies bringing a firearm into the stadium and further denies having anything to do with the discharge of a firearm at the stadium. We have reviewed photographic evidence and x-rays of our client’s injuries with firearms and medical experts who confirm the gunshot wound our client sustained was not self-inflicted and was not the result of her accidentally discharging a firearm. We will continue investigating this matter to pursue justice on behalf of our client who sustained serious personal injuries as a result of this shooting.”

Chicago Police earlier Tuesday issued a statement saying the claim that a woman had brought in a gun and suffered a self-inflicted wound was “not released or confirmed by the Chicago Police Department.” Police said the investigation was “still active and ongoing.”

Sports Mockery wasn’t the only outlet to report that the woman suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound after bringing the gun inside the baseball stadium, though ESPN Chicago host Peggy Kusinski also cited unnamed sources in her reporting.

As I reported on @ESPN1000 just now… the shooting at Guaranteed Rate Field during a #WhiteSox game was indeed an accidental discharge by one of the women “grazed” by the bullet. She reportedly snuck the gun in past metal detectors hiding it in the folds of her belly fat.

— Peggy Kusinski (@peggykusinski) August 29, 2023

One big (no pun intended) question that Chicago police have not yet answered is whether or not the firearm in question was actually recovered. It sounds like the answer is “no” at this point, with the latest statement from authorities mentioning that they’ve “almost completely dispelled” the theory that the gunfire originated outside of Guaranteed Rate Field. That would indicate that either they have not yet found the gun that was used, or if a firearm was recovered from the woman it hasn’t been determined if it was the same one that discharged a round.

While I’m keeping an open mind about how the gun ended up inside the stadium, this incident has only solidified my belief that “gun-free zones” are easy to proclaim and awfully difficult to enforce. In this case, it looks like not even metal detectors were enough to stop someone from bringing a gun to the game, whether it was smuggled in between rolls of flesh or some other route. “Gun-free zones” offer the illusion of safety, but ultimately that promise is just a big fat lie.