Chiefs players, head coach Andy Reid helped comfort fans after Super Bowl parade shooting
A "dispute between several people" led to the shooting, police say
As fans were celebrating with Kansas City Chiefs players during Wednesday's Super Bowl victory parade, a mass shooting unfolded which left one person dead and 22 people injured by gunshots.
Before they were escorted away, some Chiefs players and head coach Andy Reid comforted fans and helped usher a number of them to safety.
Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith told "Good Morning America" on Thursday that the team was coming off stage at Union Station when they found out there was an active shooter.
Before Smith and a teammate took shelter, he grabbed a young child and brought him into the closet where others were waiting.
"Right before I run in there, there's a little kid in front of me so I just grabbed him and yanked him up and said, 'You're hopping in here with me, buddy,'" Smith recalled. "I don't know how many people were in the closet, maybe 20-plus."
"One of my teammates, my long snapper James Winchester, was very instrumental in helping keep people calm."
After Smith and those in the closet were allowed to safely leave, he went back toward the Chiefs' team buses, which were filled with bystanders hiding from the danger. It was there Smith came across another child who was upset.
"This little boy was with his father. He was a little hysterical. He just panicked. He was scared. He doesn't know what's going on," Smith said. "I had the WWE belt the entire parade and I was thinking, what can I do to help him out? I just handed him the belt and said, 'Hey buddy, you're the champion. No one is gonna hurt you. No one's gonna hurt you, man. We got your back.'"
The Chiefs left the parade in busses, and in shock. I'm told players were UNBELIEVABLE calming panicked kids down. Blaine Gabbert, Tre Smith, Austin Reiter, Chris Oladukun all rallied.
Smith went to one upset kid, gave him the WWE title belt and sat with him til he calmed down.— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 14, 2024
Gabe Wallace and his friend Hank Hunter, two local high school sophomores, attended the parade and became separated once the gunfire began. Unsure of his friend's whereabouts, Wallace was told to go toward Union Station by a security guard. It was there, amid the distraught fans who were in a celebratory mood earlier, he was comforted by a familiar face.
“Andy Reid was trying to comfort me, which was nice,” Wallace said via the Kansas City Star. “… He was kind of hugging me, just like, ‘Are you OK, man? Are you OK? Just please breathe.’ He was being real nice and everything.
“He left to check on other people, I’m pretty sure.”
Shooting a result of a 'dispute between several people'
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said during a Thursday news conference that there were 23 total victims in the shooting, including the deceased, who was identified as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of two. Her two nieces and nephew were also injured, according to KMBC.
Graves added that the ongoing investigation revealed a "dispute between several people" led to the shooting. Several firearms have been recovered and of the three subjects who have been detained, two are juveniles. No charges have been filed as of Thursday morning.
According to Graves, the shooting victims range between the ages of 8 and 47 years old and half of the 22 people injured were under the age of 16.
When asked if this incident would affect future celebrations, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said there are no plans to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick's Day parade in March.
“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.
