Kansas City’s police chief said Thursday that the deadly shooting at the NFL Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration on Wednesday stemmed from a dispute between several people in the crowd.
Two of the three suspects initially detained after the shooting were juveniles, Chief Stacey Graves said, according to KMBC. An adult who was detained was released after investigators determined he wasn’t involved in the shooting.
Police said 23 people were shot, one fatally, and at least half of the shooting victims were under the age of 16. The victims’ ages ranged from 8 to 47.
On Thursday, University Health said that two of the gunshot victims rushed to their hospital are still in critical condtion but ar showing improvement.
Children’s Mercy Hospital, which received nine gunshot victims, said that all but three have been discharged and those three are expected to receover. There was no update from St. Luke’s Hospital, which received on gunshot victim in critical condition and three walk-ins.
“Taste of Tejano” radio host Lisa Lopez-Galvan was the sole fatality in the shooting. She was at the celebration with several members of her family, some of whom were wounded. The KKFI disc jockey was also a mom of two adult children. Lopez-Galvan is also the sister of Lee’s Summit Mayor Pro Tempore Beto Lopez.
Kansas City police said in a statement that the two juvenile suspects were being held “while we work with juvenile prosecutors to review investigative findings and determine applicable charges.”
“The juvenile court system determines the custody status of all juvenile arrests,” police said.
Police also said they were looking for other people who may have been involved in the shooting, including seeking out cellphone video of the incident, according to The Associated Press.
“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered several firearms,” Graves said. This incident is still a very active investigation.”
Officials say as many as 1 million people may have been on hand to celebrate the Chiefs’ victory in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Members of the team rode in double decker buses along a parade route to the rally site, and the rally had just ended when the gunfire broke out, as CrimeOnline reported.
That the shooting may have stemmed from a dispute within groups of people is a frequent cause of shooting wherever large groups gather in the United States. Some law enforcement officials said it is likely to prompt cities to change how they handle such celebrations in the future.
“They have to think twice about having these parades,” former Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans, who in 38 years with the department worked 12 championship parades and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, told the AP. “When you have that many people hanging around in one place, nothing good’s going to happen.”
Gunfire also broke out in the past year in Denver, where fans were celebrating the Denver Nuggets’ NBA championship. At least 10 people were wounded. And in Arlington, Texas, last fall someone fired a gun into the air — in a dispute over parking lot etiquette — at the end of the Texas Rangers’ World Series parade. Two people were arrested, but no one was hurt.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who was at the rally with his wife and mother when the thooting rang out, said he wants such celebrations to continue but agreed that planning for them may need to change.
“I think a lot of us, particularly those of us who are thinking about bringing our children somewhere, may ask, at least for a little while, ‘Is this the sort of thing that we want to risk?’” he said. “It’s a shame that this is what we’ve come to today in America and in our city.”
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[Featured image: Police direct people leaving a victory rally celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl 58 win after the shooting. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)]
