Police rule out terrorism as motive behind Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting; two teens in custody

The Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade in the team’s Missouri hometown ended in bloodshed Wednesday afternoon. Gunshots rang out west of Union station just as the festivities were winding down, causing panic and confusion.

A pair of heroic dads
managed to subdue one alleged gunman, but only after 22 people were wounded and a beloved mother of two was slain.

It was initially unclear what prompted the monstrous attack, although some suspected terrorism might have been to blame. Police have since revealed that a personal “dispute” between multiple thugs, not terrorism, was to blame.

Two teenagers are presently in custody. Police may yet make more arrests, as they suspect others may have been involved in the shooting.

The shooting

According to the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, shots were first fired around 2 p.m. Wednesday, west of Union Station, where a stage had been erected for speeches by Kansas City Chiefs players. Nearly 1 million people were estimated to have been in the downtown area at the time to celebrate the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win.

The shooting caused panic, prompting some fans to take cover and others to run to safety.

KCMPD Chief Stacey Graves
confirmed Thursday that at least 22 people were wounded in the shooting, in addition to Elizabeth Galvan, a 43-year-old radio disc jockey and a mother of two, who was fatally shot. The ages of the victims ranged from 8 to 47, and at least half of the wounded were under the age of 16.

Blaze News
previously detailed how two fathers who had taken their kids to the parade spotted an individual believed to be a shooter and subdued him.

Graves celebrated the effort by bystanders to take action in the face of evil,
reported the New York Times.

“They helped one another and even physically stopped a person who was believed to be involved in the incident,” said Graves. “Your selfless act did not go unnoticed.”

A ‘dispute’

Graves indicated in a Thursday
update that “preliminary investigative findings have shown there was no nexus to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism.”

“This appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” said the police chief.

Jacob Gooch Sr., a survivor of the shooting,
told “CBS Mornings” that just moments prior to the shooting, he overheard an “altercation” punctuated by a girl pleading, “Don’t do it. Not here. This is stupid.”

“My daughter said that some lady was holding him back, and people started backing up, and he pulled it out and starting shooting and spinning in a circle,” said Gooch.

Gooch indicated he took a bullet to the foot; his wife was shot in her calf; and his son was struck in the foot. His daughter, fortunately, was left unscathed.

When pressed on whether he saw anything out of the ordinary prior to the shooting, Gooch noted he had been “suspicious of a certain group of people that were there. We were standing … on the left side of the stage when the shooting ended up happening, and right before it ended up happening, there was this group dressed in all black, about four, five, six kids — looked like kids — with black on, black masks, and they disappeared into the crowd.”

Graves noted that two juveniles are in police custody. While charges have yet to be filed, Graves indicated the department has only 24 hours to do so; otherwise it will have to cut the teens loose.

The chief also noted that investigators are looking into whether others were involved in the shooting.

“It should be noted that we have recovered several firearms,” said Graves.

The Democrat-run city has long had an issue with violence, particularly
gang- and youth-related violence.

Last month, another shooting occurred inside a popular shopping mall in downtown Kansas City, leaving six people wounded. The Star reported that what apparently triggered the shooting was a disturbance between two groups of “youths.”

According to the Kansas City Star, the city set a record last years for homicides with at least 185 slayings. Over 240 were slain across the metro area. The previous year, there were 171 homicides.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!