‘I didn’t hesitate’: Bellevue man helped tackle one of the alleged shooters at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade
By Jake Anderson and Jessica Perez
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KETV) — One person is dead, and at least 21 others hurt in a mass shooting near the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade.
A Bellevue man helped tackle one of the alleged shooters and police have three people in custody.
Shots were reported in the minutes after the rally portion of the celebration ended.
Parade attendee, Alyssa Marsh-Contreras captured video of her father, Paul Contreras, tackling an alleged shooter before police got to him.
Paul said he and his three daughters thought they heard fireworks but it turned out to be gunfire.
That’s when Paul saw a man running another man chasing him and yelling for someone to stop him.
“I didn’t hesitate,” Paul said.
He said he saw a gun fall out of the alleged shooter’s hand, as he and another bystander tackled him.
“The whole time he’s fighting to get up and run away,” Paul said. “We’re fighting each other, you know. We’re fighting to keep him down and he’s fighting to get up.”
Paul said it only took seconds for police to step in but it felt like forever.
Marsh-Contreras and her father are both reportedly safe and back home in Bellevue.
She said it’s sad to see a celebration turn into a tragedy.
“We went for a once in a lifetime experience, you know, and to leave with, you know, another once in a lifetime experience but not a good one,” she said.
Paul said they won’t let this discourage them from attending other large events in the future.
“You can’t be scared, you know. Not saying you want it to happen, but there’s always that chance. It could happen at work, the grocery store. This just happened to be the Super Bowl Parade,” he said.
Kansas City police chief Stacey Graves said that there was 21 people suffering from gunshot wounds, including nine children and she confirmed one person died.
Graves said officers immediately responded to the area and performed life-saving measures to aid victims.
“We know officers ran towards danger,” she said. “Officers were there to keep everyone safe.”
Over 800 police officers were on scene, 600 of which were from the Kansas City Police Department.
“I’m angry at what happened today,” Graves said. “The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment. We had over 800 law enforcement officers at this location.”
The Kansas City Chiefs said all the players and staff were safe, and they added “our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all of Kansas City.”
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