Kansas City shooting may have stemmed from personal dispute, police say; 2 juveniles among those detained
Originally Published: 15 FEB 24 01:34 ET Updated: 15 FEB 24 13:52 ET By Nouran Salahieh, Dakin Andone, Shimon Prokupecz and Josh Campbell, CNN
(CNN) — Two juveniles are among those detained in connection with Wednesday’s shooting following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration rally, which left one dead and more than 20 wounded, according to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves.
At least 23 victims have been identified, including a 43-year-old woman who died, Graves said at a news conference Thursday. The other 22 victims range in age from 8 to 47, Graves said, adding that half are younger than 16.
The shooting appears to have been a “dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Graves said, noting there is no indication of a “nexus to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism.”
On Wednesday, Graves said three people had been detained and an unspecified number of guns recovered by police.
Several law enforcement officials similarly told CNN the shooting was believed to have been the result of a personal dispute in the area, and not an attack on the celebration itself.
One of those officials said the three people in custody are all believed to have been involved in the dispute and that, initially, 10 people were questioned. The status of the other seven who were questioned is unclear.
Police have yet to file any charges, Graves said at Thursday’s news conference, telling reporters the investigation was ongoing and her department was working closely with the office of Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
“We do have 24 hours until we have to either file charges or release them,” Graves said.
Baker vowed to “get answers” in a post on X Thursday morning, writing in part, “I will use every tool at my disposal under Missouri law that allows me to address this tragedy.”
The gunfire Wednesday erupted after an estimated 1 million people gathered steps from Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, for the parade and rally to mark the Chiefs’ repeat championship win, sending fans running for cover as law enforcement swarmed the area, confetti still blowing in the wind.
Four hospitals received 30 patients – 19 with gunshot wounds – from the shooting, their staffs told CNN. Children’s Mercy Hospital received 11 children between ages 6 and 15 – nine who’d been shot – from the scene, hospital spokesperson Lisa Augustine said.
The shooting was the second in a year at a major US sports title celebration; two people were wounded in June as Denver fans left a parade for the NBA’s Nuggets. It marked yet another place where a sense of safety was punctured by gun violence, with American churches, schools, grocery stores and outlet malls already marred by shootings.
“Parades, rallies, schools, movies. It seems like almost nothing is safe,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said Wednesday.
Wednesday’s was at least the 48th mass shooting in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN counts those in which four or more are shot, not including a perpetrator.
Deceased victim ‘was the light at every party’
Radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan died after getting shot at the rally, her employer KKFI 90.1 FM said.
“We are absolutely devastated at the loss of such an amazing person who gave so much to KKFI and the KC community,” station spokesperson Kelly Dougherty said in an email to CNN.
Lopez-Galvan “leaves behind an incredible legacy,” said Manny Abarca, a Jackson County, Missouri, legislator who was at the parade with his daughter. He knew Lopez-Galvan, a member of a “very large family of civic leaders” actively involved with the city’s Latino community.
“She was the light at every party. She was often times the voluntary DJ when everyone needed one for a community event,” he told “CNN This Morning.”
“This is absolutely a tragedy the likes of which we would have never expected in Kansas City and the likes of which we will remember for some time,” Lucas said at a Wednesday news conference.
Members of Lopez-Galvan’s family are among those injured during the shooting, according to a Facebook post by the mayor of Lee’s Summit, a suburb about 20 miles southeast of Kansas City.
Lopez-Galvan’s brother is Lee’s Summit Mayor Pro Tem Beto Lopez, Mayor Bill Baird wrote, noting two of Lopez’s nieces and a nephew were injured.
“This is truly heartbreaking and an absolute tragedy,” Baird said, asking his community to pray for the family.
Police detain person tackled by fans
Paul Contreras was at the event with his daughters when people started running.
He saw someone moving “in the opposite direction” and heard someone yell to stop him, he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday. Contreras hit the person from behind and tackled him, knocking a gun to the ground, he said. Two other attendees then helped hold the person down.
“He was fighting the whole time,” Contreras said. “And we were fighting him to keep him down.”
Police handcuffed the person pinned to the ground, video shows, though it’s unclear if that person was among those police detained. “We are working to determine if one of the three are the one that was in (a) video where fans assisted police,” Graves said Wednesday.
Jacob Gooch Sr., who was shot in the ankle, told CBS Thursday he overheard an altercation prior to the shooting, in which a girl told someone else, “Don’t do it, not here, this is stupid.”
Gooch – who said his wife and son were also shot – told “CBS Mornings” his wife and daughter then saw someone draw a gun.
“My daughter said that some lady was, like, holding him back,” Gooch said, “and people had started backing up and then he pulled it out and just started shooting and spinning in a circle.”
The FBI established a tip website, urging the public to submit videos that capture the shooting or suspects trying to flee.
Investigators will try to use that evidence to link anyone in custody to the shooting, said CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI.
While having several people already detained is a “great start,” McCabe said, “it’s a long way from having a witness who can actually tell you that the person who you have in custody is also a person who was firing a weapon.”
‘I felt like I was going to die’
Manny Abarca and his 5-year-old daughter had left the main stage area when they heard screams and saw a flood of people running toward them, he told CNN’s Laura Coates.
“People were saying, ‘Guns, police, run,’” said Abarca, a formertreasurer of the Kansas City Public School Board.
He picked up his daughter and sheltered in a nearby restaurant with Kansas City Chiefs players, owners, family members and head coach Andy Reid, he said.
Madison Anderes, 24, was at the event with her brother and mother when they heard what they at first thought were fireworks, she told CNN.
He’s got a gun!” someone yelled before a second round of pops went off, this time significantly louder, Anderes said. “That’s when all chaos broke out.”
Anderes was knocked down on the ground as everyone started running.
“I felt like I was going to die, I felt like a sitting duck and I was going to get shot,” she said.
Anderes then got up and ran with her brother and mother to a storefront, where about 10 others were huddling, she said. At that point, she said she saw law enforcement enter the scene.
Chiefs safe, saddened by shooting
Kansas City Chiefs players, coaches and staff are all accounted for and safe, the organization said, adding in a statement, “We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally.”
Star tight end Travis Kelce expressed anguishover the shooting: “I am heartbroken over the tragedy that took place today. My heart is with all who came out to celebrate with us and have been affected. KC, you mean the world to me,” he posted on X.
President Joe Biden in a statement said the Super Bowl win should have been a joyous occasion.
“For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul. Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?”
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