'Complete fear': Erin Phillips caught in shooting ordeal at pride parade

Erin Phillips has revealed her harrowing ordeal after being caught in the panic of a suspected shooting at a pride parade in America.

The AFLW star, who plays for the Adelaide Crows, was taking part in the LGBTQ pride parade in Washington DC on Sunday when a man allegedly threatened another person with a BB gun.

That set off a panic that sent hundreds of people, who mistakenly believed gunshots were fired, running in fear, police said.

Phillips, the reigning AFLW best and fairest, said she was around 100m from the incident and “ran and hid with the thousands of others in complete fear”.

“How has the world come to this? The world my kids will grow up in.”

Suspect arrested

Aftabjit Singh, 38, was later arrested on weapons possession and disorderly conduct charges.

Although no gunshots were fired, hundreds of people ran from the area, knocking down metal police barricades and running into stores, fearing that a gunman had opened fire on the crowd of revellers.

Seven people were taken to local hospitals for injuries they suffered while fleeing the area, authorities said.

Inside a small park in Dupont Circle, Singh pulled the BB gun on another person who was "hitting on his significant other," according to a police report.

People began running from the area and police officers who were keeping watch over the festivities heard revellers shouting that there was a man with a gun.

As the officers got closer, someone in the crowd pointed to Singh and said he had a gun in his bag.

An officer stopped Singh and noticed what appeared to be a silver handgun sticking out of his brown bag that was underneath a tree, the report said. The weapon turned out to actually be a BB gun, police said.

As he was led away in handcuffs, Singh vowed to come back and shoot the person who he had been threatened, police said.

Organisers decided to shut down the parade for the night after the incident but said they would not allow the scare to ruin the weekend pride celebrations.

The group that organises the event said it spends extensive time planning security procedures.

with AP