One person was killed and at least 21 others were injured after a shooting during Wednesday’s Kansas City’s Super Bowl parade, CNN reports. Authorities have not yet identified the shooter, the Kansas City police chief said at a news conference, but three people have been detained. Police have not identified a motive.
Per the New York Times, hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to celebrate the Chiefs’ Sunday-night victory against the San Francisco 49ers. But the crowd erupted into panic when gunshots sounded near the city’s densely populated Union Station around 2 p.m. CT. (CNN reports that players were still onstage during the shooting.) At least 22 people suffered gunshot wounds, Chief Ross Grundyson of the Kansas City Fire Department said. Of those, eight were classified as immediately life-threatening injuries, seven as life-threatening injuries, and six as minor injuries. A spokesperson for Children’s Mercy Hospital told the Times it is treating 12 patients from the rally, 11 of which are children.
Authorities identified the lone fatality as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local radio DJ. While authorities have not released the names of the detainees, police said that at least two of the people in custody had been armed. “As soon as the rally concluded, there were shots fired on the west side of Union Station,” Chief Graves said. “I know one of the suspects was immediately pursued on foot.” Albert Breer, senior NFL reporter for Sports Illustrated’s MMQB, tweeted that in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Chiefs players reportedly rallied to calm panicked children. The team’s coach, Andy Reid, helped comfort several people. “He was kind of hugging me, just like, ‘Are you okay, man? Are you okay? Just please breathe.’ He was being real nice and everything,” Gabe Wallace, a high-schooler who attended the parade told the Kansas City Star.
Authorities set up a hotline for victims and witnesses and asked the public to provide any information that might help the police understand the details of Wednesday’s shooting. The hotline number is 816-413-3477.
The governors of both Kansas and Missouri were reportedly in attendance at the parade, along with other state and local politicians. Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas tweeted that she had been evacuated and was “out of harm’s way,” while Governor Mike Parson of Missouri and his wife were “safe and secure,” according to a tweet from the governor’s office. The mayor of Kansas City, Quinton Lucas, was also in attendance when the shooting took place, along with his wife and mother.
“We never would have thought that we, along with Chiefs players, along with fans, hundreds of thousands of people, would be forced to run for our safety today,” Lucas said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes also offered his condolences, tweeting that he was “praying for Kansas City” on Wednesday afternoon, while Travis Kelce tweeted that he was “heartbroken over the tragedy.” Their teammates chimed in, with Justin Reid calling for “real solutions” to gun violence and Charles Omenihu asking, “When are we going to fix these gun laws?”
This post has been updated.
