WASHINGTON.- It was a day of celebration, and it ended in tragedy. An idyllic winter day in the heart of America, with hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl title, and they ended up running for their lives. A joyful day that ended in death and fear, like so many other days stained with blood by a gun. A shooting in that city in the state of Missouri left at least one dead and more than 20 injured – 18 of them from gunshots – near Union Station this Wednesday in the middle of the celebrations of hundreds of thousands of fans of the local American football team celebrating its third title in five years with a massive parade. The fatal victim was a woman, a fan of the winning team and mother of two children.
The day went from music, singing and speeches by the players from a stage to the the shots, the runs, and the sirens of the police and the ambulances, in a true pandemonium transmitted by videos on social networks. Hours after the shooting, the president Joe Biden He was receiving a briefing at the White House and staying tuned for updates, his administration officials were in contact with state and local leaders, and federal authorities are on the scene in support of local authorities.
Kansas City police responded to reports of shots fired during the event and two armed people were arrested. Fire Chief Michael Hopkins reported that one person was killed and nine others were injured. Three victims were in critical condition, five others were in serious condition.authorities said. The unofficial number of injuries later rose to at least 30.according to North American media.
Children’s Mercy Hospital had received 12 patients, 11 of whom were children, eight with gunshot wounds.said a hospital spokesperson.
The Kansas Chiefs Super Bowl parade and celebration drew hundreds of thousands of people and covered the city streets in red, the color of the team’s jersey. with his victory last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ersthe Chiefs consolidated their dominance in the American football league and ended up forging a new dynasty in the United States.
“This is absolutely a tragedy, something we would never have expected in Kansas City, and something we will remember for some time.”Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who was present at the station at the time of the shooting, said at a news conference.
Kansas City Police Department spokesman Capt. Jake Becchina said that at the time of the parade there were Shots were fired west of Union Station, near the parking lot, and “several people were injured.”
Downtown Kansas City was packed with Chiefs fans, who celebrated their third Super Bowl title with their players. Union Station, a 109-year-old Beaux Arts building that once served as a rail hub for passenger and freight transportationcurrently houses a museum and is one of the city’s tourist attractions.
Before the shooting, the party in the city was total. After decades without winning a championship, the city is beginning to gain experience in victory parades. Four years ago, in 2020before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed the world, the The Chiefs also beat the 49ers for their first NFL title in 50 years. This year they returned, the Chiefs once again surpassed the 49ers and were crowned two-time champions, something that had not happened in the American Football League in 19 years. And this year the sports logo had an incentive: Taylor Swift’s courtship with one of the team’s stars, Travis Kelce, turned the team into a global phenomenon.
Sunday’s Super Bowl game was watched by more than 120 million people, according to Nielsen, and became the most watched television program in the United States since the arrival of Apollo 11 to the Moon. YesSwift traveled from Tokyo to Las Vegas to accompany the team in the final, but he wasn’t at the parade in Kansas City because he flew to Melbourne, Australia, for a concert scheduled this Friday night, according to Sky News Australia.
“We are collecting trophies,” the player Drue Tranquill had celebrated when taking the microphone from a reporter during the celebrations. Confetti cannons exploded from the double-decker buses in which the players traveled among the fans. DJ and drummers announced their arrival. Along the way, fans hung from trees and stood on rooftops to get a better view.
After the shooting, a message from Tranquill on social media marked the change in mood of the day and in the people of Kansas. “Join me in prayer for all the victims of this heinous act.”“wrote the player on X, formerly Twitter. “Pray for the doctors and first responders to have steady hands and for everyone to experience complete healing,” he added.-Field Marshal Patrick Mahomes, The star of the team added his voice by writing on the same network: “Praying for Kansas City”.
The United States has been suffering for decades from an epidemic of armed violence that only reaches the covers of newspapers and news portals when there is a very high number of victims or a very popular event occurs. Mass shootings in which there are at least four victims – whether dead or wounded and not including the shooter – are literally an everyday occurrence.. This year, the United States already has 48 mass shootingsaccording to Gun Violence Archive, that is, more than one per day.
Kansas City saw a record number of homicides in 2023. There were 183 murders last year, up from the previous record of 179 in 2020.
A change from other celebrations was that the victory parade on this occasion It started at 11 (local time) so that the crowd could dissipate before Valentine’s Day dinner time.
He mayor of Kansas City, Quinton Lucas, who said he was among the crowd that fled the shooting, said he heard from the Kansas City Chiefs staff that all of the franchise’s players, coaches and staff were safe.
The Unusual temperature of between 15 and 20°C in the middle of winter led to more people attending the celebration in Kansas. According to figures from city authorities, there were hundreds of thousands of attendees.
Who was the woman who died in the shooting
The violent episode caused the death of Lisa López-Galván, a woman who worked as a radio DJ in the Kansas City area. The death occurred after being shot in the middle of the celebrations for the Chiefs’ victory.
“It is with sincere sadness and an extremely heavy and broken heart that we inform our community that KKFI DJ Lisa López, host of Taste of Tejano, lost her life,” the radio station shared through its Facebook account.
According to the New York post, López-Galván, in her 40s, lived with her husband and two children in Shawnee, just an hour southeast of where the tragic shooting occurred.
Biden’s message
In the midst of the commotion over the case, President Joe Biedn sent a message to the community about the tragic episode “Today, six years since Parkland, acts of armed violence penetrate deeply into the American soul,” he wrote on his X account .
“Jill and I pray for those killed and injured today, and for our country to find the determination to end the senseless epidemic of gun violence that is tearing us apart,” the president added.
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