The Toronto Raptors’ seasoned play-by-play announcer is winning widespread praise for calming a jittery crowd after gunfire broke out at a jammed Nathan Phillips Square, convincing fans to remain strong and “stay together.”
As people at the edges of the crowd fled gunshots in panic, Matt Devlin calmly announced a brief suspension of the Raptors’ NBA Championship festivities on Monday, promising more information soon and reminding fans they were there to celebrate.
“This is about love, it’s about rejoicing,” he told an estimated one million people gathered in and around city hall’s iconic public square.
Devlin, the Raptors’ play-by-play announcer since 2008, was soon credited with preventing panic from spreading.