© Reuters. Law enforcement officials detain an individual outdoors of Union Station following a taking pictures close to an out of doors celebration of the NFL champion Chiefs’ Tremendous Bowl victory, in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, U.S. February 14, 2024 on this display seize obtained from social media video
By Brad Brooks, Wealthy McKay and Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – Kansas Metropolis, Missouri police on Thursday stated a private dispute, not extremism, was behind the lethal mass taking pictures that erupted a day earlier, following a rally to rejoice town’s Tremendous Bowl win.
The variety of gunshot victims rose to 23, and their ages ranged from 8 to 47, police stated in a briefing the day after the taking pictures. The demise toll remained at one sufferer, recognized as a beloved native radio persona.
Two juveniles and an grownup had been being held as suspects within the taking pictures, Police Chief Stacey Graves stated at a press convention.
The violence erupted as “a dispute between a number of individuals” and that there was no connection to terrorism or extremism.
“We now have all intentions of presenting costs,” Graves stated of the three suspects in custody. Their identities weren’t disclosed.
Along with the girl who was killed, at the very least 22 others suffered gunshot wounds on Wednesday outdoors town’s landmark Union Station, authorities stated. At the very least 9 kids had been amongst these hit by bullets.
Youngsters’s Mercy Hospital stated it had handled 9 children who had been shot, and on Thursday stated “all the victims we noticed are anticipated to get well.” The hospital additionally handled two different children injured however not shot on the rally, together with an grownup.
1000’s of followers had gathered there with members of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs to rejoice the group’s NFL championship conquer the San Francisco 49ers.
The bloodshed got here on the finish of the rally following a parade, and it turned the festive event right into a scene of panic. Throngs of attendees scrambled for canopy on the sound of rapid-fire gunshots.
The Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who will determine on submitting legal costs, wrote on social media on Thursday that “I’ll use each software at my disposal beneath Missouri legislation that at permits me to handle this tragedy.”
Baker’s workplace stated by cellphone that costs may come as early as Thursday afternoon, however offered no extra particulars.
The taking pictures marks the most recent, high-profile outburst of gun violence, which has been erupting with rising frequency in colleges, supermarkets, nightclubs and different public settings.
“That is an all-too-real American drawback,” Kansas Metropolis Mayor Quinton Lucas stated in an interview with KMBC TV on Thursday. “However as long as now we have fools who will commit these kinds of acts, so long as now we have their entry to firearms at this stage of capability … we might even see incidents like this one.”
Fifteen victims suffered life-threatening wounds, Fireplace Division Chief Ross Grundyson stated at a late-afternoon information convention.
“Happily, there was no reported change in standing of our victims,” Lucas stated on Thursday.
Not one of the soccer group, their coaches or different workers attending the rally was wounded, the Chiefs stated.
CIRCUMSTANCES REMAIN MURKY
Graves appealed to anybody who had details about the taking pictures or video that may assist make clear what transpired to share it with police.
Graves stated she was conscious of video purporting to point out followers subduing a suspect, and that investigators had been reviewing the footage to find out if the person was one of many individuals taken into police custody.
Parade attendee Paul Contreras, advised Omaha, Nebraska tv station KETV he was one of many followers who helped sort out the person, and noticed him drop a gun when he was knocked down.
“The entire time he is preventing to stand up and run away,” Contreras stated, including police arrived inside moments. “We’re preventing one another, you recognize. We’re preventing to maintain him down and he is preventing to stand up.”
The barrage of gunshots occurred close to a storage west of the station, whose entrance entrance was the backdrop to the stage for the victory rally, based on police.
The Tremendous Bowl celebration featured Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce on stage with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and different teammates, however Kelce’s pop famous person girlfriend, Taylor Swift, was again on tour in Australia on the time.
“I’m heartbroken over the tragedy that befell right now,” Kelce posted on X late on Wednesday night time. “My coronary heart is with all who got here out to rejoice with us and have been affected. KC, you imply the world to me.”
The governors of Missouri and Kansas had been among the many dignitaries current on the occasion. They had been unharmed.
The taking pictures got here three days after the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in extra time to win the Tremendous Bowl, 25-22, marking their fourth Nationwide Soccer League championship.
Wednesday’s violence befell on the sixth anniversary of probably the most infamous mass shootings in latest U.S. historical past, when 17 individuals had been killed and 17 extra had been injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida. The shooter in that incident, a former scholar who was 19 on the time, pleaded responsible and was sentenced to life in jail.