Investigators search for what motivated a shooting that left 1 dead and more than 20 wounded at Chiefs Super Bowl celebration
Originally Published: 15 FEB 24 01:34 ET Updated: 15 FEB 24 07:25 ET By Nouran Salahieh, CNN
(CNN) — Police are working to figure out who opened fire and why after one person was killed and 20 more wounded at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory rally, sending fans in red jerseys running for cover or tending to those on the ground as law enforcement swarmed the area, confetti still blowing in the wind.
Children were among those shot, authorities said, as an estimated 1 million people gathered Wednesday just steps from Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, for the parade and rally to mark the Chiefs’ repeat championship win, with players still on the stage when the chaos erupted.
Three people were detained and an unspecified number of guns recovered as officers converged, said Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves. No charges had been announced by Wednesday night and no suspects had been named.
“We do not have a motive, but we are asking those who may potentially have any kind of information, a witness or video, to contact police,” the chief said at a Wednesday news conference.
The shooting was the second in a year at a major US sports title celebration, after two people were wounded in June as Denver fans left a parade for the NBA’s Nuggets. The attack in Kansas City marked yet another place Americans saw a sense of safety punctured by gun violence, following shootings at churches, schools, grocery stores and outlet malls. And it 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.
“I am angry at what happened today,” the Kansas City police chief said Wednesday. “The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment.”
Police now are collecting physical and digital evidence, and interviewing witnesses and victims, Graves said. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives both responded to Kansas City to help police, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
Radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan died after getting shot at the rally, her employer KKFI 90.1 FM said. Police have not identified the person who died in the shooting.
“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.
Authorities are still working to determine the number of victims, which Graves on Wednesday evening put at 22 shot, including the person who died. Four hospitals together received 29 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.
“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,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said at a Wednesday news conference.
Police detain person tackled by fans
Paul Contreras was at the event with his daughters when people started running.
Contreras then 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 tackledhim, knockinga gun to the ground, he said.
“You don’t think about it. It’s just a reaction,” Contreras said.
Two other attendees then stepped in to help hold the person down.
Police arrived at the scene and handcuffed the person pinned to the ground, video shows.
“He was fighting the whole time,” Contreras told CNN. “And we were fighting him to keep him down.”
It’s unclear if the person tackled by Contreras was among those police said they detained. “We are working to determine if one of the three are the one that was in (a) video where fans assisted police,” Graves told reporters.
The FBI has set up a tip website and invited the public to submit videos that capture the shooting or suspects trying to flee the scene.
Investigators will try to use that visual evidence to link anyone already 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’
The celebration started with Chiefs players, including Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, on double-decker buses, waving to fans as they rolled through the city. Some players left their rides to walk the parade route, high-fiving fans along the way.
A victory rally following the parade featured several players toasting the team’s connection with the city.
The event wrapped up. Then, gunshots rang out.
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.
Abarca’s youngdaughter went into “protocol mode,” telling her father, “This is like training,” 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! He’s got a gun!” someone then yelled before a second round of pops went off, this time significantly louder. “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.
Lucas, the mayor, was at Union Station when the shooting erupted.
“I was inside of Union Station, we heard something, a number of us start running and I see a stream of officers going the exact other direction in with guns drawn, ready to address danger,” Lucas said. “People … responded absolutely immediately. But I wish that we lived in a world where they wouldn’t have to do that.”
Hundreds of officers were at the event, including atop buildings – yet people were shot “in a matter of moments,” the mayor said.
“It seems like almost nothing is safe,” he said.
Kansas City Chiefs players, coaches and staff are all accounted for and safe, the organization said. “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,” the Chiefs said in a statement.
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?”
The-CNN-Wire
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