Minnesotan describes Kansas City parade shooting scene
Police say the shooting after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration that killed one woman and injured more than 20 people appears to have stemmed from a dispute.
Eagan resident Rachel Contreras was at the party in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday and described the atmosphere as “electric.”
That’s until gunfire erupted outside Union Station where crowds had gathered after the parade. While Contreras and her friends had left that area before the shots rang out, it’s been on her mind since then.
“It’s all we’ve been thinking about, we’ve been putting two and two together, how close it was,” she said Thursday.
While she and her friends were fine, Contreras said one of her friends learned that his cousin, popular radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan, was fatally shot.
Trey Filter and his wife, Casey, were also in the crowd on Wednesday. Trey said he heard someone say, “Get him,” just before seeing a man run past them.
“Me and that gentleman were pretty elated once we knew we had him, they started yelling, ‘there’s a gun, there’s a gun.’ … We were pretty steadfast in holding him down there,” Trey Filter said.
Casey also picked up a gun she says she thought was a toy until realizing otherwise.
Police say three people were initially detailed but only two juveniles remained in custody Thursday afternoon. Several firearms were recovered from the scene.
The shooting caused several chiefs players and fans to take shelter in a closet.
“This is no joke, it’s a life or death situation,” Chiefs lineman Trey Smith said.
Smith had been wearing a WWE belt during the parade and gave it to a boy to comfort him as they waited for the situation to clear.
“What can I do to calm him?” Smith recalled thinking. “I handed him the belt, ‘Hey buddy, you are the champion, no one is going to hurt you man, we got your back.”
As Contreras drove back to Minnesota, she said her heart is still with those back in Kansas City.
“I mean right there, really scary, I don’t even know how to process it yet,” she said.
ABC News contributed to this story.