At least eight children are among 22 people who were wounded by gunfire in a shooting at the conclusion of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade on Wednesday, authorities said.
Kansas City police chief Stacey Graves said at a news conference that one person was dead, identified by her radio station as a DJ.
“I’m angry at what happened today,” Ms Graves said.
She said three people had been taken into custody and firearms had been recovered.
Police did not immediately release any details about the people taken into custody, possible motives for the shootings or what kind of weapons were used.
“There’s a lot of work ahead. This is just the beginning stages,” she said. “All of that is being actively investigated.”
Stephanie Meyer, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said all of the injured children are expected to make a full recovery.
She told reporters: “I want to clarify that we have had 12 patients that we have treated, 11 of which are children with nine gunshot wounds… all of those patients we expect to have a full recovery, none of which are in critical condition.”
City mayor Quinton Lucas said: “This is absolutely a tragedy, the likes of which we never would have expected in Kansas City, the likes of which we’ll remember for some time.”
Radio station KKFI said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening that DJ Lisa Lopez was killed in the shooting.
“This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community,” KKFI said in a statement.
President Joe Biden said the shooting “cuts deep in the American soul” and called on people to press Congress to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity gun magazines and for other gun measures that have been rejected by Republicans.
“Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for?” he said.
Mr Biden noted that Wednesday was the anniversary of the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and said there have been more mass shootings in 2024 “than there have been days in the year”.
Social media users posted shocking video. One user’s video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a shooting victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby.
People screamed in the background.
Another video showed two onlookers chase and tackle someone, holding that person down until two police officers arrived.
Lisa Money of Kansas City, Kansas, was trying to gather some confetti near the end of the parade when she heard somebody yell, “Down, down, everybody down”.
At first She thought somebody might be joking until she saw the Swat team jumping over the fence.
“I can’t believe it really happened. Who in their right mind would do something like this? This is supposed to be a day of celebration for everybody in the city and the surrounding area. and then you’ve got some idiot that wants to come along and do something like this,” she said.
Kevin Sanders, 53, of Lenexa, Kansas, said he heard what sounded like fireworks and then people running. Calm returned but 10 minutes later, ambulances started showing up.
“It sucks that someone had to ruin the celebration, but we are in a big city,” Mr Sanders said.
Lisa Augustine, spokeswoman for Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said the hospital “is receiving patients from the rally.”
St Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City received one gunshot patient in a critical condition and one walk-in patient with injuries that were not life threatening, spokeswoman Laurel Gifford said.
The University of Kansas Health System was treating one person wounded in the shooting, said Jill Jensen Chadwick, news director for the health system.
“When you have this many casualties, it’s going to get spread out among a lot of hospitals so that you don’t overwhelm any single ER,” she said.
Missouri governor Mike Parson and his wife were at the parade when shots were fired but are safe, he tweeted.
“State law enforcement personnel are assisting local authorities in response efforts,” he said. “As we wait to learn more, our hearts go out to the victims.”
Chiefs’ trainer Rick Burkholder said he was with coach Andy Reid and other coaches and staff members, and the team was on buses and returning to Arrowhead Stadium.
Areas that had been filled with crowds were empty after the shooting, with police and firefighters standing and talking behind an area restricted by yellow tape.
Crowds had lined the route, with fans climbing trees and street poles, or standing on rooftops for a better view.
Players rolled through the crowd on double-decker buses, DJs and drummers heralding their arrival. Owner Clark Hunt was on one of the buses, holding the Lombardi Trophy.
