KANSAS CITY – A barrage of gunfire erupted on Feb 14 in downtown Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, close to an out of doors celebration of the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL) champion Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Tremendous Bowl victory, killing not less than one particular person and wounding 21 others as throngs of followers scurried for security.
Police Chief Stacey Graves advised a press convention three folks have been detained “and beneath investigation for at present’s incident” outdoors town’s landmark Union Station following a ticker-tape parade.
She stated investigators have been nonetheless working to find out precisely how many individuals had been injured, and that they’d not but recognized a motive for the gun violence. Not less than two of the folks in custody had been armed, police stated, and a 3rd particular person had additionally been detained, the chief stated.
She stated investigators had no recognized motive for the gun violence. Eleven of these damage by gunfire or the following chaos have been youngsters as younger as 6.
Not less than 22 folks have been struck by gunfire, certainly one of them fatally, hearth division chief Ross Grundyson stated at a late-afternoon information convention. He stated 15 of these wounded suffered life-threatening accidents.
Native radio station KKFI recognized the sufferer killed as Ms Lisa Lopez, certainly one of its disc jockeys and host of the present Style of Tejano.
On Feb 14, US President Joe Biden known as on Individuals to again his name for Congress to ban assault weapons, saying {that a} lethal taking pictures at a Tremendous Bowl victory parade in Kansas Metropolis “cuts deep”.
“Right this moment’s occasions ought to transfer us, shock us, disgrace us into performing,” Mr Biden stated in a White Home assertion.
As he has after so many earlier mass shootings, Mr Biden known as for enactment of more durable gun management measures. Mr Biden stated he and his spouse “pray for these killed and injured at present in Kansas Metropolis, and for our nation to seek out the resolve to finish this mindless epidemic of gun violence”.
He known as on Individuals to “make your voice heard in Congress so we lastly act to ban assault weapons, to restrict high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, hold weapons out of the fingers of those that haven’t any enterprise proudly owning them or dealing with them”.
Kansas Metropolis Mayor Quinton Lucas stated the prevalence of weapons and gun violence in the US made it troublesome to supply full safety for any public occasion, even with a number of hundred regulation enforcement officers on patrol, as they have been, for the Chiefs’ victory parade and rally.
“Parades, rallies, colleges, films – it looks as if virtually nothing is protected,” Mr Lucas, a Democrat, advised reporters, recounting how he was amongst those that ran for canopy on the sound of gunshots.
“We grew to become a part of a statistic of too many Individuals, those that have skilled or been a part of or related to a mass taking pictures,” he stated.
Chiefs fan John O’Connor stated in a video interview posted by The Kansas Metropolis Star that he ran with different members of the gang right into a storage after listening to 15 to twenty photographs in fast succession, recounting: “It appeared like fireworks at first.”
Some 800 regulation enforcement officers have been on the rally and the parade that preceded it, together with brokers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The entire Chiefs gamers, coaches and employees who attended the victory rally have been accounted for and protected, the NFL crew stated in an announcement.
Hours after the bloodshed, the authorities have been nonetheless checking out the exact quantity and particulars of casualties.
Kids’s Mercy Kansas Metropolis handled a dozen sufferers from the rally. Of those, 11 of them have been youngsters six to fifteen years of age, with 9 of 12 victims struggling gunshot wounds, a hospital spokesperson stated.
Not less than 5 folks injured within the taking pictures have been taken to College Well being hospital, based on a spokesperson there.
The barrage of gunshots, fired outdoors close to a storage close to the station, got here on the finish of the victory rally following a parade, based on the police.
Video posted on social media confirmed pandemonium outdoors, the station with dozens of uniformed cops, weapons drawn, working into the constructing as scores of bystanders fled in the other way.
Speedy gunfire was audible in footage posted on-line by ABC Information.
