This photo has created an Internet frenzy. It’s of a couple kissing in the middle of a riot in Vancouver following the Canucks’ 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Freelance photographer Rich Lam snapped the photo for Getty Images — one of the world’s largest photography agencies. He told Postmedia News that he thought someone had been hurt.
“I didn’t really see what I really had until after I gave my memory cards (to an editor on site) and someone said ‘Oh, nice picture of the couple kissing,’” Lam said.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re making out.’ Here I thought she was hurt and kind of had a sympathetic guy . . . but they’re making out.”
Megan Jones of Perth, Australia, told the news website Ninemsn.com.au, that the man in the photo is her son, 29-year-old Scott Jones. He’s been living in Vancouver for six months.
“It is something he would do — that’s our boy,” she said. “He has always lived in his own world. He’s special like that. He doesn’t always connect with what [is] going on around him. I knew it was him because he doesn’t have a lot of clothes with him and he always puts on the same thing.”
Jones’ sister, Hannah, identified the woman in the photo as Canadian Alex Thomas and said the two had been dating.
Jones’ father, Brett, said the couple had been at the hockey game. After the Canucks lost, the two were caught up in the violence.
“They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground,” he told CBC News. “[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, ‘It’s going to be OK,’ and the photographer just took the shot at that moment.”
Brett Jones said Scott is fine. Alex suffered a bruised leg after falling to the ground.
The two are overwhelmed by all the media attention the picture has received.
“They are both just totally stunned by it, actually.”
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