The deadly shooting that turned a Kansas City Chiefs celebration into a tragedy on Wednesday appeared to stem from an argument between three people and was “not related to terrorism,” officials said Thursday morning.
Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a news conference that two of the people involved were juveniles.
The shooting occurred around 2 p.m. amid a crowd of fans outside the city's Union Station as the parade and rally for the Super Bowl champions was winding down. At the sound of gunfire, people fled in all directions as police and first responders began to swarm the scene. Three people were taken into custody a short time later.
Within minutes, a woman was killed and 22 people were injured. The victims ranged in age from 8 to 47, Graves said, and half were younger than 16. “This incident remains under very intensive investigation,” she noted.
A statement from University Health Hospital in Kansas City said three victims remained there, including two in critical condition. Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City continued to treat a victim whose condition was still listed as critical
Mayor Quinton Lucas wonders if his city will ever host a public celebration like Wednesday's again.
“I would be lying to you if I didn't say that we're probably going to think about whether we're lucky enough to have another Super Bowl championship,” Lucas said Thursday morning, questioning whether future gatherings need to be held in a stadium or other location where participants are held at security checkpoints.
The shooting was the latest to upend a community's celebration with deadly violence. And with St. Patrick's Day parades next month, “my city and many American cities will be put to the test,” Lucas said in an interview. “Is this just something we live with, the same way we live with school shootings and threats to movie theaters and bowling alleys?”
A moment later he added: “Mayors and police chiefs will think about that.”
Lucas said he spoke with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Thursday morning about a 2022 shooting — by a 21-year-old man with an assault rifle — that left seven people dead at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park and several dozen were injured , Ill. Lucas said Pritzker told him, “It shouldn't surprise me that something like this could happen at a parade or rally, but it always happens.”
The city continued to clean up the crime scene, which the next morning was littered with fans' folding chairs, Chiefs insignia and yellow and red confetti. The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office offered counseling services Thursday to citizens who felt traumatized by what they saw.
The mayor said the “biggest challenge” is the modification of firearms as well as “the continued presence of semi-automatic weapons.”
“We're seeing more things where a lot of people are getting hit, even unintentionally. I’m not going to go into the facts here, but I think it’s a very real concern,” he said.
A security expert, Michael Chertoff, former federal government homeland security secretary, also raised the issue of ensuring security at such open events. In a stadium, he noted, people can be checked for bringing weapons or dangerous things, such as bombs. And you can also infiltrate them via a portal that gives you control over whoever comes in. Of course, when you’re dealing with the street, you don’t have that ability.”
The city's police department had issued tips earlier in the week urging Chiefs parade-goers to “be prepared,” but those focused primarily on children who become lost from their parents and how they deal with traffic congestion. In a warning that would now have a very different meaning, the department warned: “Cell phones are unlikely to work. “Agree with your family or group to meet up in the event you become separated.”