KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Wednesday, 22 people were shot, one of whom was killed, after the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade.
Kansas City police tell us they have three people in custody.
Several of those victims are still in critical condition in the hospital as of Wednesday at 10 p.m.
KKFI radio station identified the woman who was killed as one of their DJs, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mom of two.
It was supposed to be a day of celebration as the Chiefs brought home the Super Bowl Lombardi Trophy for the fourth time.
“You know who came through in the end -- that's the Kansas City Chiefs,” Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said at the rally.
But just as the parade and rally were wrapping up gunshots rang out on the west side of Union Station, sending people running for their lives.
A central Illinois man named Branton Beard was there with his friends in the middle of the chaos.
“Me and my friends had actually planned on standing where the shots had taken place before we ended up on the hill. So there's just a major God moment with that. He was watching and helped us out of that situation and we were thankful for that,” Beard said.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves says more than 800 law enforcement officers were there to protect people before, during and after the parade and jumped into action immediately taking those three people into custody.
“This tragedy occurred even in the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers, who again ran towards them and took them into custody. To the people who are injured in this tragedy, our hearts go out to you and your families,” Graves said.
Even fans jumped into action, and a viral video showed several people tackling someone in the crowd.
Paul Contreras says he was one of those fans and stopped a person carrying a gun.
“When I hit him from behind, I either jarred the gun out of his hand or out of his sleeve because as I'm taking him down to the ground, I see the gun on the ground. So I take him down and I put all my body weight on him,” Contreras said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says he was there with his family along with Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
While the mayor says they are safe he is angered by the unthinkable.
“I don’t want us to have to in our country for every big event think about a concern of being shot,” Lucas said.
Parson said in a statement on Twitter, “Governor and First Lady Parson want to thank the Missouri Highway Patrol, KCPD, and their security officers for their quick and professional actions.”
President Joe Biden said he has offered federal assistance to investigators and ended Wednesday night with this statement:
“The Super Bowl is the most unifying event in America. Nothing brings more of us together. And the celebration of a Super Bowl win is a moment that brings joy that can’t be matched to the winning team and their supporters. For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul.
Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?
It is time to act. That’s where I stand. And I ask the country to stand with me. To make your voice heard in Congress we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, and keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them.
We know what we have to do, we just need the courage to do it.
Today, on a day that marks six years since the Parkland shooting, we learned that three police officers were shot in the line of duty in Washington, DC and another school shooting took place at Benjamin Mays High School in Atlanta. Yesterday marked one year since the shooting at Michigan State University. We’ve now had more mass shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year.
The epidemic of gun violence is ripping apart families and communities every day. Some make the news. Much of it doesn’t. But all of it is unacceptable. We have to decide who we are as a country. For me, we’re a country where people should have the right to go to school, to go to church, to walk the street — and to attend a Super Bowl celebration — without fear of losing their life to gun violence.
Jill and I pray for those killed and injured today in Kansas City, and for our country to find the resolve to end this senseless epidemic of gun violence tearing us at the seams.”