The shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl triumph rally, which killed one person and injured 22 others, including several children, was a personal fight, and two teenagers were apprehended, authorities said Thursday.
Up to a million happy supporters had gathered in uncharacteristically warm weather for the NFL champions parade when gunfire rang out just before 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
“There was no link to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism.” “This appeared to be a dispute between several people that resulted in gunfire,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told reporters.
“We have people detained, two of whom are adolescents. We are investigating the involvement of others,” she said, noting that many firearms had been found.
One victim, Elizabeth Galvan, 43, was slain, according to authorities. According to local radio station KKFI, DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan was killed, and her son and two other relatives were also shot.
Stephanie Meyer, senior vice president of the local Children’s Mercy hospital, said only three of the 11 children treated there remained hospitalized on Thursday and “will recover” from their injuries.
Overall, the hospital treated 12 people, nine with gunshot wounds and the rest with “incidental injury.”
‘Instinctively crouched down’
Two paradegoers, identified only as Gracie and McKenna, claimed they heard a shouted caution to duck.
“We heard a couple of shots,” McKenna told AFP. “Everyone just immediately, instinctively crouched down.”
According to officials, at least half of the gunshot victims were under the age of sixteen.
Graves commended individuals in attendance who “physically stopped a person who was believed to be involved in the incident.”
Paul Contreras, who was with his three daughters, claimed he assaulted and disarmed one of the suspected shooters before police arrived.
“When I hit him from behind, I either jarred the gun out of his hand or out of his sleeve,” Contreras claimed in an interview with CNN.
Victims were treated on the ground before being transported on stretchers through the crowds, while hundreds of police hurried to evacuate the area.
Just seconds before the shooting, the championship players were enjoying the cheers at the end of a two-mile (three-kilometer) procession of double-decker buses.
Travis Kelce, a Chiefs standout, later stated that he was “heartbroken.”
“My heart goes out to everyone who came to celebrate with us and has been affected. “KC, you mean the world to me,” he wrote on X, the former Twitter.
“Praying for Kansas City,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said on social media, while the team issued a statement expressing “truly saddened by the senseless act of violence.”
According to local media, 184 homicides occurred in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2023, setting a record.
“I don’t think in any way that this is Kansas City,” Mayor Quinton Lucas told reporters Thursday. “I do think there is a gun violence challenge in this community and many others.”
‘Shame us into acting’
US President Joe Biden condemned the shooting and rallied Americans to support his calls for Congress to pass gun regulation.
“Today’s events should move us, shock us, and shame us into acting,” Biden said in a White House statement on Wednesday.
Meyer, the hospital’s executive, stated that the shooting will leave a lasting psychological impact on the community.
“I think it’s important that we talk about the tragedies and the lasting impact they’re going to have on the mental health of not only the community but all of our kids,” she said in a news conference.
Mass shootings are prevalent in the United States, where guns outnumber people and roughly one-third of adults possess a handgun.
The Chiefs won their third Super Bowl title in five seasons on Sunday, defeating the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.