Kansas City hit by gun violence after celebrating NFL win

It was supposed to be a night of celebration and local pride in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs had just clinched a spot in the Super Bowl, its first in a half-century. Arrowhead Stadium had been full of fans, and local bars were packed.

But late Sunday night, the city found itself confronting yet another episode of what the mayor called an epidemic of gun violence.

One woman was killed and at least15 people were injured by a gunman outside a club that was hosting a football-themed party

Sunday night. The attacker was fatally shot by an armed security guard, the Kansas City Police Department said.

“Last night was a night that a lot of people had been dreaming of in Kansas City for 50 years,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said at a news conference Monday. “This is very disappointing for us. It’s heartbreaking.”

The police chief, Richard Smith, said that officers were called to the bar, the 9ine Ultra Lounge, near Noland Road and U.S. Highway 40, at about 11:30 p.m. local time. The suspect, identified as Jahron Swift, 29, of Kansas City, had opened fire outside the club as people waited to enter, Smith said.

The woman killed was identified as Raeven A. Parks, 25, also of Kansas City. It was not clear whether it was a targeted attack. The police said that only the suspect and the security guard, whose name was not released, had fired during the exchange.

“It appears that he saved lives,” Smith said of the guard.

He added that responding officers encountered a chaotic situation, with hundreds of people fleeing in cars and on foot. Multiple firearms were recovered at the scene, he said. The police did not specify the weapons’ models.

“It was a very intense scene, to say the least,” he said.

At least 15 people turned up at local hospitals saying that they had been injured in the attack, Smith said. The Police Department had previously said on Twitter that three of those people were in critical condition.

Jean Peters Baker, the Jackson County prosecutor, said in a telephone interview Monday that it appeared the gunman had acted alone.

Lucas had said previously that the gunman was not believed to have been inside the club before the shooting. At the news conference, he said that city officials were grappling with how to stop gun violence and called for people with information about the shooting to come forward.

He also said that city officials would consider whether the club’s license should be revoked. Smith said that a driveby shooting had recently taken place outside the club and that the police had received reports of other disturbances there. The club did not immediately respond to a voicemail message Monday.

After their victory Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs will now face off against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2 .