One Dead and at Least 21 Others Shot at Super Bowl Celebration in Kansas City (2024)

Pinned

Here’s what we know about the shooting.

Here’s what else to know:

• Chief Stacey Graves of the Kansas City Police Department said one person was dead, and that investigators were still working to determine exactly how many people had been injured. At least two of the people in custody had been armed, the police said, and a third person had also been detained, the chief said.

• Children’s Mercy Hospital said it was treating 12 people who were injured in the shooting — 11 children, ages 6 to 15, and one mother who would not leave her child. Nine of the children suffered gunshot wounds, said a hospital spokeswoman, Stephanie Meyer. None of the children were in critical condition, and all were expected to recover.

• Other victims were taken to University Health, formerly Truman Medical Center, where two with gunshot wounds were in critical condition, said Keith King, a hospital spokesman. Another victim with a gunshot wound was in critical condition at Saint Luke’s Hospital, said Laurel Gifford, a hospital spokeswoman.

• Many state and local officials were at the rally, including the governors of Kansas and Missouri. Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas had to be evacuated and posted on social media that she is now “out of harm’s way,” and Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri and his wife were both “safe and secure,” the governor’s office said.

• Kansas City players posted messages of sorrow and support on social media. Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback who led his team to victory on Sunday, said that he was “praying for Kansas City.” Travis Kelce, a tight end, wrote that he was “heartbroken,” adding, “KC, you mean the world to me.” And Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a receiver who caught a touchdown in Sunday’s game, sought to connect with the children who were being treated for injuries, offering to help in “any way I can.”

A hospital was treating 11 children, including nine who were shot.

Nine of the children had gunshot wounds, she said, while the others had “incidental injuries.” None were in critical condition, and all were expected to recover.

“The one word I would use to describe what we saw, and how they felt when they came to us,” she said of the children, “was fear.”

A 12th victim was being treated at the hospital, as well — a mother who had refused to be separated from her child in the wake of the shooting.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Kansas City players, in sorrow and shock, post messages of support.

Tight end Travis Kelce wrote on social media that he was “heartbroken,” adding, “KC, you mean the world to me,” while safety Justin Reid urged people to find answers to gun violence today and not leave it for future generations.

“I pray our leaders enact real solutions so our kids’ kids won’t know this violence,” he wrote on social media.

All Chiefs players, coaches, staff and their families are safe and accounted for, the team said in a statement. Team members and their families had been enjoying a celebratory day with fans that started with a parade and ended with a rally at the landmark Union Station. They bused back to the team’s stadium as the event concluded.

“We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station,” the team said. “Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and all of Kansas City.”

Staff from the league-owned N.F.L. Network and N.F.L. Films who were on site to cover the event are also safe, according to a league spokesman. The N.F.L. said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened by the senseless shooting” and thanked law enforcement and emergency personnel for a “quick and thorough response.”

The shooting occurred less than a week after the Players Coalition, a nonprofit group founded by the former N.F.L. stars Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins, announced before the Super Bowl that it would donate $100,000 each to two groups focused on curbing gun violence. The advocacy organizations, Community Justice and Equal Justice USA, work in communities with survivors, policymakers and public health experts.

The Baltimore Ravens, the team that Kansas City defeated in the conference championship last month to reach the Super Bowl, issued a statement of support.

“Our hearts are with Chiefs Kingdom following the tragic events and shocking violence that occurred during today’s parade in Kansas City,” the team said. “On a day meant for uniting people in joy and celebrating love, we send our full support to every citizen of the region and each member of the Chiefs organization who has been affected by this senseless tragedy.”

Ken Belson and Ben Shpigel contributed reporting.

As gunshots rang out, a Super Bowl parade dissolved into chaos.

At first, the shots sounded like fireworks, said Ian Johnson, who had been selling hot dogs near the main event stage. Only when fans started running — some of them took shelter under his hot dog tent — did he realize that a shooting was underway.

Courtney Brown, of Independence, Mo., and her two sons were also near the stage when the gunfire began. She didn’t hear shots, she said. But she did hear someone shout: “Get down.”

Her instincts told her to flee, so she told her children to keep moving. “We were almost trampled twice,” she said. The three of them locked arms and huddled near a barricade until the crush of the crowd had eased.

Adrian Robinson had traveled to Kansas City from Gary, Ind., to sell T-shirts. He heard what he thought was a few firecrackers popping, and then he saw hundreds of people running down the street. A minute later, the same people were running back in the opposite direction.

“People were traumatized, man” Mr. Robinson said. “They were crying. Hyperventilating.”

The police said that they had detained three people after the shooting. But as the crowds began to disperse, some parade attendees were left stranded.

Zachary Dial and his family had traveled from Richmond, Mo., and parked in a garage by Union Station. A few hours after the parade was over, their car was still off limits, stuck behind crime scene tape, he said.

Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, had also been downtown for the celebration. “I was there with my wife; I was there with my mother,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.

“We never would have thought that we, along with Chiefs players, along with fans, hundreds of thousands of people, would be forced to run for our safety today.”

Traci Angel and Colbi Edmonds contributed reporting.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Before the Super Bowl, Kansas City was reveling in the frenzy around Taylor Swift.

Most important in the minds of Kansas City residents was a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. But they were tantalized by possibilities beyond the game.

Could Kansas City, a place that is often left out of the national conversation, see its fortunes and economy buoyed because of Ms. Swift? Was the couple considering an engagement, as many residents were hoping?

Might the most famous woman in the world actually move to the Midwest, a region that people on the coasts frequently (and unfairly) portray as a vast, amorphous blob of blandness?

“Kansas City has needed this oomph for a while,” said a beaming Deanna Martin, 75, of Olathe, Kan., as she strolled through Kansas City with her husband, Don, during the week before the game. “It will bring young people in.”

All of this added to a sense that Kansas City, home to just over half a million people, was growing more visible nationally, a thrill to residents and city officials.

“Kansas City is growing,” said Angie Brock, a hotel sales and marketing coordinator. “We’re not New York or Chicago, but we’re getting there.”

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

The Chiefs’ most famous fan, Taylor Swift, did not accompany her boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce, to the parade. She flew to Melbourne, Australia, ahead of her scheduled concert there on Friday night, according to Sky News Australia.

A Super Bowl parade has become an annual rite in Kansas City.

The victory set off debates in bars and living rooms across the country about whether the team had achieved dynasty status, and it elevated its star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, to a realm occupied only by Tom Brady and Joe Montana as a three-time Super Bowl M.V.P.

After hosting huge crowds for its parades last year and in 2020, Kansas City officials again expected a throng to descend upon downtown on Wednesday, when idyllic weather — sunshine and temperatures in the low 60s — greeted a city ready to celebrate, again.

Columns of fans, many wearing red, lined the 2-mile parade route, cheering and waving at the players and team officials riding by. Aboard open-top red buses, emblazoned with the team logo and “World Champions 2022 2023 back-to-back,” players drank from cans of Coors Light and took videos of the crowd on their cellphones.

The parade route — planned “with the safety and security of fans in mind,” according to a map posted by the Kansas City Sports Commission — wound through downtown Kansas City. The destination: a rally outside Union Station, the century-old rail depot that has been redeveloped into a destination with shops, restaurants and a science center.

Video of the rally captured the celebration, with Mahomes thanking the fans for their support — and promising that the team was ready to chase a third straight Super Bowl victory next season.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

“When you have people who decide to bring guns to events, when you have people who are deciding to try to mar events — celebratory ones, like this one — all of us start to become members of this club that none of us want to be a part of, which is those who have experienced mass shootings,” Lucas said at the news conference.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Union Station, more than a century old, draws tourists to the city’s center.

The past year, record numbers of people attended programs at the station, including at its science center and movie theater. The 2023 National Football League Draft was also hosted at Union Station; 312,000 people attended in person, officials said, and 54 million people watched online.

The station collected more than $9.5 million in ticket revenue in fiscal year 2023, and had a ridership of 127,044 on its Amtrak trains that work on two routes, according to The Great American Stations.

Decades ago, the station had been still more popular with train riders, before the rise of automobiles. Then, 25 years ago, officials carried out a $250 million restoration.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT