Kansas City shooting had ‘no nexus to terrorism,’ officials say

The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. amid a crowd of fans outside the city’s Union Station as the parade and rally for the Super Bowl champions drew to a close. At the sound of gunfire, people fled in every direction while police and first responders began swarming the scene. Three people were taken into custody a short time later.

One woman was killed and 22 people injured in a matter of minutes. The victims’ ages range from 8 to 47, Graves said, and half are younger than 16. “This incident is still a very active investigation,” she noted.

A statement from the University Health hospital in Kansas City said three victims remained there, including two in critical condition. Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City was continuing to treat one victim, who was still listed as in critical condition

Mayor Quinton Lucas is questioning whether his city will ever host another public celebration like Wednesday’s.

“I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that we’ll probably evaluate in the event that we’re blessed to have another Super Bowl Championship,” Lucas said Thursday morning, questioning whether future gatherings would need to be held at a stadium or other location where attendees would be wanded at security checkpoints.

The shooting was the latest to upend a community’s celebration with deadly violence. And with parades coming up on St. Patrick’s Day next month, “my city and many American cities will be tested,” Lucas said in an interview. “Is this just something we live with in the same way that we’re living with school shootings and the threat to movie theaters and the threat to bowling alleys?”

A moment later, he added, “That’s something mayors and police chiefs will be thinking about.”

Lucas said he had spoken Thursday morning with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker about a 2022 shooting — by a 21-year-old man armed with an assault rifle — that left seven people dead and several dozen wounded at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill. Lucas said Pritzker told him that “I shouldn’t be surprised that something like this could happen at a parade or rally, but you always are.”

The city continued to clean up the scene, which was littered on the morning after with fans’ folding chairs, Chiefs’ regalia and yellow and red confetti. The Jackson County prosecutor’s office was offering counseling services Thursday for members of the public feeling traumatized by what they witnessed.

The mayor said the “biggest challenge” is the modification of firearms as well as “the ongoing presence of semiautomatic weapons.”

“We are seeing more things with a lot of people getting hit even unintentionally. I’m not going to get ahead of the facts here, but it is something that I think is a very real concern,” he said.

One security expert, Michael Chertoff, former secretary of the federal government’s Homeland Security, also raised the issue of ensuring safety with such open events. In a stadium, he noted, you can screen people for bringing in weapons or things that are dangerous, potential bombs. And you also can funnel them in through a portal that gives you control over everybody who comes in. Obviously, when you’re dealing with the street you don’t have that capability.”

The city’s police department had put out tips earlier in the week urging Chiefs’ paradegoers “to be prepared,” but those focused primarily on children getting lost from their parents and how to navigate traffic congestion. In a caution that now would carry much different meaning, the department cautioned, “Cellphones probably will not work. Make a plan with your family or group for a meet-up point should you become separated.”