KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eight children were among 22 people hit by gunfire in a shooting at the end of Wednesday’s parade to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl win, authorities said, sending terrified fans running for cover as yet another high-profile public event was marred by gun violence. One of those victims — a mother of two identified by her radio station as a DJ — was killed.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said three people had been detained as part of the investigation. She said she has heard that fans may have been involved in tackling a suspect but couldn’t immediately confirm that.
“I’m angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment.” Graves said. Police did not immediately release any details about the people who were detained or about a possible motive for the shootings. She said firearms had been recovered, but not what kind.
Gun violence
It is the latest sports celebration in the U.S. to end in gun violence, following a shooting that injured several people last year in downtown Denver after the Nuggets’ NBA championship, and gunfire last year at a parking lot near the Texas Rangers’ World Series championship parade.
Fatality
Social media users posted shocking video of police running through a crowded scene as people hurriedly scrambled for cover and fled.Radio station KKFI said in a Facebook post Wednesday evening that Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano,” was killed in the shooting.
“This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community,” KKFI said in a statement.
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. Izurieta said Lopez-Galvan had attended the parade with her husband and her adult son, a die-hard Kansas City sports fan who also was shot.
“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta said.
The shooting outside Union Station happened despite more than 800 police officers who were in the building and around the area, including on top of nearby buildings, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and had to run for cover when gunfire broke out.