Police: Parade shooting likely stemmed from argument
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Authorities said Thursday that a shooting that tore through the city’s Super Bowl celebration, killing one person and wounding nearly two dozen others, appeared to have stemmed from an argument between several people.
Stacey Graves, the city’s police chief, said there was no indication that the shooting was connected to terrorism. At least 22 people were wounded, in addition to the woman who died, and they ranged in age from 8 to 47 years old, Graves said. At least half of the wounded were younger than 16.
Authorities have said that three people were detained in connection to the shooting Wednesday afternoon. Two of them, police said, were younger than 18. No charges have been filed.
“I’m angered about what occurred in our city yesterday,” Graves said.
The person who died was identified as Elizabeth Galvan, 43, a local DJ who was also known as Lisa Lopez-galvan. A friend described her as a passionate fan of the city’s football team who was deeply involved in civic events and hosted a radio show.
The shooting erupted as thousands of football fans had crowded into downtown Kansas City after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win, suddenly turning a day of revelry into one of chaos and panic. As shots rang out, people ran for cover.
Graves praised the response of her department’s officers and firefighters, and also noted that civilians themselves had sprung into action. Videos had captured two parade attendees tackling a person as others ran from gunshots.
“It was just a reaction,” Paul Contreras, who said he had tackled a man after hearing someone else yell to stop him, told NBC’S “Today” show. “I took him down, and as I took him down, I saw the weapon — the gun — fall to the ground,” he said.
Videos showed that two men held the person down until police arrived. Graves lauded the revelers’ efforts.
“Those in attendance also responded,” Graves said. “They helped one another and even physically stopped a person who was believed to be involved in the incident.”
The shooting took place near the city’s Union Station, a hub that draws tourists to the city each year.
The shock of gun violence pierced an otherwise idyllic winter afternoon, with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 60s greeting a city ready to rejoice in what had become close to an annual rite of February as Kansas City’s team has become the dominant force in the NFL.
Columns of fans, many wearing red, had lined the 2-mile parade route, celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs’ second consecutive Super Bowl victory and third in five seasons, waving at players, coaches and team officials riding past in open-top red buses.
Among the crowd was Lopez-galvan, whose radio show, “Taste of Tejano,” was broadcast on KKFI, a local radio station. She had two young adult children, a son and a daughter, and the radio station said in a social media post Thursday that the son, Marc, had been shot in the leg but was treated at a hospital and released.
Lopez-galvan was known to watch football games with close friends in her garage, according to one friend. That friend, Lisa Lopez, said she and Lopez-galvan, who were not related, would often call each other “tocaya,” Spanish for “namesake,” because of their similar names.
Lopez described Lopezgalvan as the life of the party, and said she had recently joined a group that helped to organize Fiesta Hispana, an annual festival in downtown Kansas City.
“She was loved by everybody in our community,” said Lopez, who is an executive administrative assistant at The Kansas City Star newspaper. “Our Hispanic community lost a beautiful, wonderful person.”