Panic can be VERY contagious, if the deaths continue to occur over time. That's how I began my first novel, with a sniper firing from long range into the packed upper deck of a football stadium. If people in one area keep getting shot, one after another, they WILL stampede for the exits.
If the exits are down extremely steep and crowded stairs, the cascade effect can send folks right over the edge. This has happened in significant scale at soccer matches, just after brawls between opposing fans got out of hand.
Once the rest of the stadium sees folks going over the rails in large numbers, falling 100 feet onto other fans below, it's not too hard to extrapolate that the panic can become general.
http://matthewbracken.web.aplus.net/excerpt1.htm
We would have to look at each situation. Indoor/outdoor, football/basketball, bombs/guns. Lots of variables.
Yes, look at the panic generated by two bozos with a gun, one of them firing from the trunk of their car. Nearly shut down half of the east coast.
was gonna ping you for the similarity