In a display of bravery and quick thinking, Kansas City Chiefs fans on Wednesday intervened during a harrowing moment at the Super Bowl victory parade, tackling a gunman who had opened fire at the celebration.
One person was killed and multiple children were among 21 injured after a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory rally triggered panic among huge crowds of fans. Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, which takes patients up to the age of 17, said it was treating 12 people, 11 of them children, nine for gunshot wounds, after the shooting.
kc citizens tackling one of the shooters. brave people. pic.twitter.com/USLzF9rBbd— gwyn (taylor’s version) | KC N1 (@gwyn_kl) February 14, 2024
US President Joe Biden called on Americans to back his call for Congress to ban assault weapons, saying that a deadly shooting at a Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City “cuts deep.” “Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting,” Biden said in a White House statement. He called on Americans to “make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them.”
The Kansas attack unfolded moments after Chiefs players had addressed a vast crowd of cheering supporters gathered nearby. After shots rang out, shocked fans scrambled to flee to safety as police worked to clear Union Station in a tragic end to what had been a joyous morning of celebrating the NFL champions. Police said three people had been taken into custody after the incident, but the motive behind the shooting was still under investigation. Kansas City fire department chief Ross Grundyson told a press conference that many of the victims had sustained “life-threatening injuries.”
A local radio station, KKFI, announced that one of its DJs, Lisa Lopez, had been killed in the assault. “This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community,” the station posted on its Facebook page, referring to Kansas City. A spokesperson from Children’s Mercy said all those it was treating were expected to recover. Police Chief Stacey Graves told a news conference that she was aware of reports that some fans may have participated in the pursuit and capture of at least one of the suspects, and investigators were reviewing video of the incident.
The barrage of gunshots, fired outside near a garage by the station, came at the end of the victory rally following a parade, according to police. A video posted on social media showed pandemonium outside the station, with dozens of uniformed police officers, weapons drawn, running into the building as scores of bystanders fled in the opposite direction. A statement from the NFL said: “We are deeply saddened by the senseless shooting that occurred in Kansas City today following the Chiefs’ celebration. Our thoughts are with the victims and everyone affected.”
(With agency inputs)
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