On February 11, 2024, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers faced each other at the 58th Super Bowl. The game was held at the Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. In the end, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the 49ers with a score of 25 – 22. Numerous celebrities attended the Super Bowl including: Beyoncé, Lana Del Ray, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ice Spice, Bad Bunny, the Kardashians, and many more.
After the Chiefs’ win on February 11, millions of fans gathered together on Wednesday, February 14, in the streets of Kansas City to celebrate. The mayor of Kansas City, Quinton Lucas, declared Wednesday as a parade day for their win in the Super Bowl when he tweeted, “LET’S HAVE A PARADE WEDNESDAY.” The parade began at 11 am followed by a rally for their victory at Union Station, Kansas City’s most prominent site for entertainment and cultural activities, at 12:45 pm.
During the parade, there were fans as well as some Chiefs players who were high-fiving and taking selfies with their supporters and hundreds of police officers who were scanning for trouble.
As confetti flew in the air after the players and fans arrived at the Union Station, CNN reports, a man named Jacob Gooch, Sr. said he heard an altercation. Gooch says a girl told someone, “Don’t do it, not here, this is stupid.” Gooch, his wife, and his daughter saw a gun get drawn and “people started backing up, and then he pulled it out, and just started shooting and spinning in a circle.” Bystanders were alerted with, “guns, police, run.” Mayor Quinton Lucas stated he also heard something going on and started running. He recalls seeing officers going in the opposite direction with guns drawn.
Madison Anderes, a woman in the crowd, was knocked to the ground and stated she “felt like I was going to die. I felt like a sitting duck, and I was going to get shot.” Another rally-goer named Tony saw the shooter running and instinctually took off after him. According to CNN, Tony said, “He was hopping barriers, I was hopping barriers, just trying to stay in a somewhat of a distance from him and that way I could see a cop and identify that was the guy.” A bystander by the name of Paul Contreras tackled the shooter and saw a gun fall to the ground. CNN also includes, “two others in the crowd quickly stepped in, leaning all their weight to help hold the person down.” Soon after, authorities arrived and handcuffed the shooter.
More than twenty people were injured, and sadly one passed. Of those injured, eight of them were children. The woman who was killed is named Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who according to Variety “caught the attention of Taylor Swift, who made donations on the page [GoFundMe] totaling $100,000 early Friday morning.”
