The Norfolk District Attorney's Office and Massachusetts State Police are investigating the death of a 53-year-old fan at Gillette Stadium during the fourth quarter of Sunday's New England Patriots-Miami Dolphins game.
A state police spokesman confirmed that an adult male suffered "an apparent medical event" in the 308/309 section of the stadium shortly before 11 p.m. They said emergency medical technicians responded and transported him to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in nearby Attleborough, where he died just before midnight.
Foxborough police initially responded to the incident, but state police are now investigating "the facts and circumstances of the man's death, including the sequence of events prior to the medical incident," an agency spokesman said.
The district attorney's office said in a statement Monday afternoon that the investigation is ongoing, and identified the man who died as Dale Mooney, of Newmarket, New Hampshire.
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"There are no charges in place at this time," the district attorney's statement said.
NBC10 Boston spoke with multiple witnesses, but none of them wanted to go on camera or have their names used in our report. They say a fight broke out in the stands. They tell us they were shocked by the disturbing scene in which they saw a man throw a vicious punch at the victim.
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"It was really one punch that I saw and the victim got punched really hard on the side of the head, and went down. He's a bigger guy but he just crumbled," one witness said.
Cell phone video shared by one person showed security rushing down to break up the fight, and paramedics attending to the injured man.
"First responders got there and they instantly start doing compressions, they had to lay him out in the aisle between the seats. They were doing compressions by my estimation for easily 10 minutes," the witness added. "It was pretty heartbreaking and the game was still going on so the general public clearly knew what was going on in our section so the game was going on, people are cheering for the Patriots comeback, and this poor guy has passed away before our eyes. It was pretty brutal to watch."
Mooney's wife says they have two boys together.
The longtime Pats fan was a great father, husband and friend, she said, now grieving the loss of the man she has loved for more than 30 years.
"My thoughts go out to that man's family. It's awful what happened," one of the witnesses said.
"I would use this terrible situation as a reminder that this is just a game and people are just going to enjoy themselves and cheer on their team but everyone should be able to attend a game and feel safe in their environment," another man said.
The district attorney's office says they're still waiting for the results from Mooney's autopsy, adding that this is still an ongoing investigation and that no charges have been filed at this time.
