Chiefs' Superbowl Parade Catastrophe
The Investigation
One is dead, and 21 others were injured by gunfire at the end of the Chiefs' Superbowl Parade. During a press conference later that evening, it is now known that three people have been detained and are under investigation. Of the 21 people who were wounded, 8 of them were in severe life-threatening conditions.
Stacy Graves, one of the police chiefs on this case states, "I'm angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment."
The Kansas City Radio station later announced that one of its DJs, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, died in the shooting. Lopez-Galvan was an extrovert, always wanting to make others happy, and a mother of two. She was reported to arrive at the parade with her husband and son, of whom also were shot. In the athletes' perspective, all Chiefs' players, coaches, and staff were safe and accounted for. How can such one optimistic day turn into a brutal nightmare?
Grief
Stephanie Meyer, a chief nursing officer at the local Kansas City Hospital, describes the condition of some of the injured, specifically one child, "Fear. The one word I would use to describe what we saw and how they came to us was fear." A University health spokesperson, Nancy Lewis, added that the hospital was treating eight gunshot victims. Two of them were in critical condition, and the rest were hopefully stable. At least two other hospital in the Kansas City area also received victims from the mass shooting.
The NFL explained in a statement, "We are deeply saddened by the senseless shooting that occurred today near the end of the rally in Kansas City for the Chiefs. Our thoughts are with the victims and everyone affected. We are grateful for the quick and thorough response of law enforcement and emergency personnel."
A Social Media Standpoint
On many platforms of social media, a shocking video was posted. It showed someone performing chest compressions on a victim, as another person, who appeared to be injured, was seemingly lying on the ground in pain. There were horrifying screams in the back of the video. Although, another video showed two Chiefs' parade pedestrians chase down and tackle someone until police enforcement arrived. Sydney Graves was working to see if one of the three people detained were the ones involved in that video. Police did not immediately release of whom were detained, but they did identify some possibilities of the type of weapon used.
"This was an absolute tragedy, the likes of which we never expected in Kansas City, the likes of which we'll remember for some time," one spokesperson stated.
"I saw people running from every direction...From where I was standing, my initial thought, the sound was such a rapid popping sound, it sounded more to me like firecrackers than a gun," Sciara first said. "So, I wasn't initially panicked but because everybody started running, we had no choice but to start running. When I looked back, I kept looking for the shooter because I wanted to make sure we weren't running toward the shooter. I couldn't see a shooter. I saw people down, several people down, but I couldn't tell if they were shot or if they were trampled. The mass of people was hard to describe."
After the incident, many of the Chiefs' players showed their deepest consolidations through social media.
Thank you for writing about this. Instances like this are so scary, and I hope they get justice.
ReplyDeleteThis was crazy to hear about, thank you for writing about this because I wanted to know more about it. I hope they get justice and once again thank you for writing on an issue that matters. I applaud you for that.
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