A celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs’ second straight Super Bowl win turned deadly Wednesday when shots rang out in the crowd gathered for the victory parade, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured, including at least nine children. Three people are reportedly in police custody as law enforcement looks for more information.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce shared a somber reaction to the news of the shooting on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday evening.
“I am heartbroken over the tragedy that took place today,” he wrote. “My heart is with all who came out to celebrate with us and have been affected. KC, you mean the world to me.”
Kelce has risen to even greater prominence this season not only for his skills on the football field, but for his relationship with superstar Taylor Swift as well.
Swift, who was on hand Sunday at Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium to witness the Super Bowl win, was not in Kansas City for the victory parade, having already flown to Australia to continue her global Eras Tour. In fact, Kansas City officials hinted Tuesday that they’d been in touch with Swift’s team asking her to consider skipping the parade in the face of security concerns.
Ahead of the parade, KCPD also issued a statement urging revelers to be prepared, warning them that “cell phones probably will not work” and advising families to take photos of their children in whatever they were wearing that day, in case they got separated, and to put their contact information on a wristband or in permanent marker on their child’s arm.
“There will be hundreds of officers along and around the route and at Union Station,” the advisory stated. “Thirty-four local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies will be assisting KCPD for the celebration. KCPD has brought in everyone from investigative units to Academy recruits to help with the celebration on Wednesday.”
The Chiefs players and staff were accounted for and safely evacuated from the scene, and stories of the players pivoting from celebration mode to protecting and comforting their fans are still emerging.
Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith recalled helping a child while speaking with Good Morning America about the chaos.
“This little boy was with his father,” Smith said. “He was a little hysterical. He just panicked. He was scared. He doesn’t know what’s going on. I had the WWE belt on the entire parade and I was thinking, What can I do to help him out? I just handed him the belt and said, ‘Hey, buddy, you’re the champion. No one is gonna hurt you. No one’s gonna hurt you, man. We got your back.’”
The Chiefs released a statement on social media, reading, in part, “We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally.”
Brittany Mahomes, wife of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, addressed the incident on her Instagram Story on Wednesday.
“Shooting is never the answer,” she wrote in a slide. “Praying for Kansas City & America in general, this is rough.”
“Highly embarrassed and disappointed in this, Super Bowl wins will never be the same because of this, it’s devastating,” she wrote. “Lives lost and people injured during something that was [supposed] to be a celebration. Horrible and traumatizing. So many prayers going to the families involved.”
Defensive end Charles Omenihu, too, offered “prayers” on X in reaction to the shooting, and added a call for legislative change.
“Prayers for those affected at today’s parade,” he wrote. “A time of celebration ends in tragedy. When are we going to fix these gun laws? How many more people have to die to say enough is enough ? It’s too easy for the wrong people to obtain guns in America and that’s a FACT.”
Teammate Justin Reid shared a passionate message urging lawmakers to take action.
“This is SAD man!” he wrote. “Kids are being shot and somebody didn’t come home tonight. We cannot allow this to be normal. We cannot [allow] ourselves to become numb and chalk it up to ‘just another shooting in America’ and reduce people in statistics and then move on tmrw. This is a SERIOUS PROBLEM!! I pray our leaders enact real solutions so our kids’ kids won’t know this violence.”
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence characterizes Missouri’s gun laws as “appallingly weak” and pointed out that the state has “one of the country’s highest gun death rates.”
The Kansas City Police Department told Vanity Fair that no criminal charges have been issued in the shooting yet, and that the names of those arrested would only be released with criminal charges.
Representatives for Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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