Two teens held in Super Bowl parade gunfire
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mass shooting that unfolded amid throngs of people at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration, killing one person and wounding almost two dozen others, appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, authorities said Thursday.
Police Chief Stacey Graves said that the 22 people injured in the shooting ranged between the ages of 8 and 47 years old, half of whom were under the age of 16. A mother of two was killed.
Police said they detained three people from the shooting but released one person they determined wasn’t involved, leaving two juveniles in custody. No charges have been filed. Police are looking for others who may have been involved and are calling for witnesses, people with cellphone footage and victims of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.
“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered
several firearms. This incident is still a very active investigation,” Graves said at a news conference.
The shooting outside Union Station occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers who were in the building and area, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots rang out. But he doesn’t expect to cancel
the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.
People packed the parade route, with fans climbing trees and street poles for a better view. Players rolled through on double-decker buses as DJS and drummers heralded their arrival.
The police chief said 1 million people likely attended the parade, but stressed that the violence was wrought by just a handful of people.
“The law enforcement response was exemplary. Those in attendance also responded,” Graves added. “They helped one another and even physically stop a person who was believed to be involved in the incident.”
The rally had just ended and music was still blaring when the shots erupted. Many people initially thought they were hearing fireworks. But then chaos ensued. Some in the crowd hit the ground while others leapt over barriers and sprinted, some carrying children in their arms.
Social media users posted shocking video of police running through Wednesday’s crowded scene. One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. People screamed in the background.
Another video showed two people chase and tackle a person, holding them down until two police officers arrived. In an interview Thursday with ABC’S “Good Morning America,” Trey Filter of Wichita, Kan., said he saw someone being chased and took action.
“I couldn’t see much. I heard, ‘Get ’em!’ I saw a flash next to me. And I remember I jumped and remember thinking, ‘I hope this is the fool they were talking about,’ ” he said. “They started yelling that, ‘There’s a gun! There’s a gun!’ ”
Filter said he and another man kept the person pinned down until officers arrived.
It was not immediately clear if the person he held down was involved in the shooting.
The woman killed in the shooting was identified by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.”
Lopez-galvan, whose DJ name was “Lisa G,” was an extrovert and devoted mother from a prominent Latino family in the area, said Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, two childhood friends who worked with her at a staffing company.
“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta said.