[ad_1]
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with more information.
A shooting near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally at Union Station has left 22 victims injured, and one dead.
Shots were fired at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2024 Super Bowl rally, west of Union Station near the garage, according to initial police reports.
Police had detained three people by Wednesday afternoon. Two were detained quickly after the shooting; a third was detained based on video footage, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a news conference late Wednesday afternoon.
“While we were not expecting it, we were ready,” Kansas City Fire Department Interim Chief Ross Grundyson said of KCFD’s response to the shooting. KCFD reported 22 gunshot victims, eight with injuries Grundyson described as “immediately life-threatening”; seven with life threatening injuries and six with minor injuries.
Graves said officers were working to identify the deceased victim, and other victims, to notify their loved ones.
On Wednesday evening, the death of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local radio DJ and mother of two, was confirmed on Facebook by the community radio station KKFI 90.1, where Lopez hosted the weekly program Taste of Tejano.
The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday that Lopez-Galvan, who lived in Shawnee, Kansas, died at a hospital during surgery to treat a gunshot wound to her abdomen.
“She was the most wonderful, beautiful person,” a longtime friend of Lopez-Galvan told the Star. “She did everybody’s weddings. We all know her. She was so full of life.”
Children’s Mercy Hospital confirmed it had received 12 patients from the rally: 11 children, nine with gunshot wounds. The ages of the pediatric patients were between 6-15. Stephanie Meyer, the hospital’s senior vice president of nursing, said all of the children are expected to make full recoveries. None of the patients were in critical condition.
University Health received 12 patients from the rally. Eight were gunshot victims, two of whom were in critical condition; four were non-gunshot victims.
St. Luke’s hospital had four patients from the rally. One was a gunshot victim in critical condition, and three were walk-in patients with non-life-threatening, non-gunshot injuries.
No information was immediately available about the location or status of four additional gunshot victims referenced by Grundyson.
Other than people who were injured by gunfire, “there are going to be a lot more people who are forever impacted by what happened today,” Graves said.
Graves said police did not yet have a motive for the shooting. She said KCPD was setting up a phone number for victims, witnesses or people who had any information about what happened.
“We continue to receive information minute by minute,” Graves said.
She was “angered by what happened,” Graves said, “but I want you to know that the KCMO police department and all the officers that were there today that were serving and protecting. I’m so proud of them that they ran into danger, getting two people into custody, and rendering life saving aid to victims.”
More than 800 law enforcement officers were on duty Wednesday — 600 KCPD officers and an additional 250 from outside agencies. Graves said the immediate area around Union Station was still the scene of an active investigation late Wednesday afternoon. The White House had also offered federal help with the investigation.
“We are praying for the safety of everyone,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said at the news conference.
“We never would have thought that we, along with Chiefs players, along with fans, along with hundreds of thousands of other people, would be forced to run for safety today,” he added. “I don’t want us to, in our country, for every big event, to think about being shot.”
Lucas said all Chiefs players, coaches and staff were accounted for.
“We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally,” the team said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all of Kansas City.”
The team expressed its gratitude to local law enforcement officers and first responders who were on-scene to assist.
Immediately after reports of the shooting, police asked people to exit the area quickly and safely, and avoid the Union Station parking garage. They also requested that witnesses go to the southwest corner of Pershing and Main Street. KCPD also said that several children needed to be reunited with their parents. The parade’s child reunification spots were at 2301 Main Street and inside the main entrance of Union Station.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson were both at the parade, and both posted on X that they were safe.
Savannah Hawley-Bates, Zach Perez, Peggy Lowe, Sam Zeff, Laura Ziegler, Madeline Fox, Luke X. Martin and others contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link