KANSAS CITY, Mo.: The mass taking pictures that unfolded amid throngs of individuals on the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to stem from a dispute between a number of folks, authorities mentioned Thursday.
Police Chief Stacey Graves mentioned that the 22 folks injured within the taking pictures ranged between the ages of 8 and 47 years previous, half of whom had been below the age of 16. A mom of two was additionally killed.
Three folks had been detained — together with two juveniles — however no costs have been filed but, Graves mentioned. Police are calling for witnesses, folks with cellphone footage and victims of the violence to name a devoted hotline.
“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered several firearms. This incident is still a very active investigation,” Graves mentioned at a information convention.
The taking pictures exterior Union Station occurred regardless of the presence of greater than 800 law enforcement officials who had been within the constructing and space, together with on prime of close by constructions, mentioned Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended along with his spouse and mom and ran for security when the pictures rang out. But he doesn’t anticipate to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas mentioned.
Throngs had lined the parade route earlier than the taking pictures, with followers climbing bushes and avenue poles or standing on rooftops for a greater view. Players rolled by means of the group on double-decker buses, as DJs and drummers heralded their arrival.
The police chief mentioned the gun violence principally unfolded on the west facet of Union Station, addressing preliminary stories that shootings occurred in multiple location.
Graves mentioned 1 million folks doubtless attended the Chief’s Super Bowl parade, which occurred in a metropolis with a inhabitants of about 470,000 folks and a metropolitan space of about 2 million, however harassed that the violence was wrought by only a handful of individuals.
“The law enforcement response was exemplary. Those in attendance also responded,” Graves added. “They helped one another and even physically stop a person who was believed to be involved in the incident.”
Meanwhile, police are nonetheless asking witnesses to return ahead. Many have described a way of confusion that rippled by means of the group.
The rally had simply ended and music was nonetheless blaring when the pictures erupted. Many folks initially thought they had been listening to fireworks. But then chaos ensued. Some within the crowd hit the bottom whereas others leapt over limitations and sprinted from the scene, some carrying kids of their arms.
The crowd was so huge that normalcy returned shortly, with some followers not sure what had occurred. But it grew to become clear there was a taking pictures as ambulances arrived and officers rushed in with weapons drawn. Some of the much less critically injured had been pushed away on golf carts.
The surprised crowd — some in tears — slowly gathered their belongings, attempting to determine the right way to get dwelling. Strangers comforted one another as police put up crime scene tape in an space the place moments early it had been a joyous celebration.
Ashley Coderre, a 36-year-old from Overland Park, Kansas, mentioned she heard two or three pictures after strolling out of a Panera close to Crown Center, a pair blocks from Union Station. She mentioned folks had been operating and yelling.
Then immediately she mentioned folks had been strolling round like nothing had occurred: “We were so confused.”
Social media customers posted stunning video of police operating by means of Wednesday’s crowded scene. One video confirmed somebody apparently performing chest compressions on a sufferer as one other particular person, seemingly writhing in ache, lay on the bottom close by. People screamed within the background.
Another video confirmed two folks chase and sort out an individual, holding them down till two law enforcement officials arrived. In an interview Thursday with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trey Filter of Wichita, Kansas, mentioned he noticed somebody being chased and took motion.
“I couldn’t see much. I heard, ‘Get ’em!’ I saw a flash next to me. And I remember I jumped and remember thinking, ‘I hope this is the fool they were talking about,’” he mentioned. “They started yelling that, ‘There’s a gun! There’s a gun!’”
Filter mentioned he and one other man saved the particular person pinned down till officers arrived. “I remember the officers pulling my feet off of him and at that point I was just looking for my wife and kids,” he mentioned.
It was not instantly clear if the particular person he held down was concerned within the taking pictures, however Filter’s spouse, Casey, noticed a gun close by and picked it up.
The lady killed within the taking pictures was recognized by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.”
Lopez-Galvan, whose DJ identify was “Lisa G,” was an extrovert and devoted mom from a outstanding Latino household within the space, mentioned Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, two childhood mates who labored along with her at a staffing firm.
“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta mentioned.
Kansas City has lengthy struggled with gun violence, and in 2020 it was amongst 9 cities focused by the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the town matched a file with 182 homicides, most of which concerned weapons.
Lucas has joined with mayors throughout the nation in calling for brand spanking new legal guidelines to cut back gun violence, together with mandating common background checks.
“We did everything to make this event as safe as possible,” Lucas, a Democrat, mentioned in an interview on KMBC-TV Thursday. “But as long as we have fools who will commit these types of acts, as long as we have their access to firearms with this level of capacity, then we may see incidents like this one.”
University Health spokesperson Leslie Carto mentioned two of the eight gunshot victims dropped at the hospital are nonetheless in essential situation. One is in steady situation. The different 5 have been discharged. The hospital additionally handled 4 folks from the rally who had nongunshot accidents. Three of these sufferers had been discharged, Carto mentioned.
Stephanie Meyer, chief nursing officer for Children’s Mercy Kansas City, mentioned it was treating 12 sufferers from the rally, together with 11 kids between the ages of 6 and 15, 9 of whom suffered gunshot wounds. All had been anticipated to recuperate, she mentioned.
When requested in regards to the situation of the youngsters, Meyer responded: “Fear. The one word I would use to describe what we saw and how they came to us was fear.”
St. Luke’s Hospital spokesperson Emily Hohenberg mentioned one gunshot sufferer on the hospital stays in essential situation. Four individuals who suffered accidents whereas fleeing the aftermath of the taking pictures had been handled and launched.
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Associated Press writers Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
