“An argument between several people that ended in gunshots”: Kansas City's police chief explained on Thursday the origins of the shootings that killed one person the day before in this central US city celebrating its Super Bowl victory died.
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“Preliminary results of the investigation showed there was no connection to terrorism or domestic violent extremism,” Stacey Graves said at a news conference.
“As mentioned yesterday, we have detained people, two of whom are minors,” she added. Three arrests were announced on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of people were celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs American football team marching through the streets of this Missouri city after their Super Bowl victory on Sunday when shots were fired near the Union Station train station parking lot toward the end of the celebration.
The authorities counted a total of one death and 22 injuries.
Lisa Lopez, a radio host whose death was announced by her station Wednesday night, was 43.
“We had one death on site, eight [personnes] “In critical condition, seven in serious condition and six with minor injuries,” said Ross Grundyson, chief of the city fire department, on Thursday.
Among the injured, “more than half were under 16 years old,” he said.
Children's Mercy Hospital reported treating 12 patients, including 11 children ages 6 to 15. “Nine of the children were shot and injured,” a spokeswoman for the pediatric facility said in a statement, adding that the medical community expects all treated victims to recover from their injuries and that nine of them have already left the hospital.
“senseless epidemic”
Police have renewed a call for testimony from anyone who “directly witnessed the shootings, has video of the shootings, or is a victim of the shootings and has not yet come forward.”
An FBI platform was also set up to collect videos that could help the investigation.
Stacey Graves also praised those who “physically detained a person suspected of involvement.” A video circulating on social media shows onlookers chasing a person in a hoodie before throwing them to the ground and immobilizing them.
The event joins the long list of tragedies caused by firearms in the United States, which pay a very high price for their prevalence across the country and the ease with which Americans have access to them.
On Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden again called on Congress to pass legislation to curb gun violence in the country. Referring to a “tragedy,” the American president said he was praying “for the dead and injured in Kansas City,” but also “for our country to find the resolve to put an end to this senseless epidemic of gun violence that is tearing us apart.” “to put apart.”
“Angry”
The country has more individual guns than people: one in three adults owns at least one gun and almost one in two adults lives in a household with a gun.
The result of this prevalence is the very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, which is incomparable to that of other developed countries.
About 49,000 people died from gunfire in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This equates to more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.
The United States Congress has not passed ambitious legislation in a long time because many elected officials are under the influence of the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), America's leading gun lobby.
The mayor of Kansas City, who attended the parade with his family, said he was “angry.”
For Quinton Lucas, a parade celebrating a Super Bowl victory is “a day that many people want to remember for the rest of their lives; And what they shouldn't remember is the threat of gun violence.