Two teenagers have been charged with charges related to the mass shooting at the Kansas community Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, authorities announced Friday, as the community works to recover from the bloodshed.
According to a news release from Jackson County Family Court, the children are being held at the county’s Juvenile Detention Centre on gun-related and resisting arrest charges. More charges are expected as the investigation progresses.
There was no further information available. In Missouri, defendants under the age of 17 are normally adjudicated in the juvenile system, which is significantly more private than the adult system. The names of the accused are not made public, nor are police records such as probable cause statements.
According to Lynn Urban, a professor and chair of the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at the University of Central Missouri, adolescents as young as 12 can be approved for trial as adults in circumstances involving heinous offences like murder.
Anyone under the age of 18 at the time of the crime is not eligible for the death penalty under federal law. Police initially held three adolescents, but released one after determining that he was not engaged in the shooting.
Police are hunting for anyone else who may have been involved, and they are urging witnesses, victims, and anyone with mobile video of the violence to call a designated hotline. Meanwhile, Kansas City residents are turning to religious meetings, vigils, and counselling to cope with the trauma of what occurred.
A mother and a popular disc jockey were killed in a burst of gunfire Wednesday as the procession and demonstration were coming to an end, and 22 others were injured, including more than half of the youngsters.
By Friday, two people were still in critical condition, and one was in serious condition. Most of the injured children were released from the hospital and expected to recover. However, emotional recovery is only beginning in a community horrified that two juveniles could cause such trauma. Police believe the shooting was the result of a disagreement among several people.
KKFI-FM identified the slain woman as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.” On Friday, a family friend, Katrina Rojas Vincent, said she felt Lopez-Galvan’s presence as she stood near the shooting location.
“Her spirit will always be here welcoming people back to this location, to not be afraid to not have any fear, to enjoy yourself and live your life,” Vincent said. Lopez-Galvan was known as a lively and generous individual.
“Always had that ear-to-ear smile and just the positivity that she brought to our community with the music that she would play” on her radio show, Vincent added. The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office organised in-person counselling for those who were traumatised.
According to spokesman Michael Mansur, 12 individuals attended Thursday, including two youngsters. The agency also established a hotline to provide counselling, but Mansur did not immediately know how many people contacted.
The Kansas City Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five years Sunday, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. The two prior celebrations went off without incident. On Wednesday, players took double-decker red buses across Missouri’s biggest city.
The parade culminated with a demonstration at the enormous Union Station. It was just about to break up when shots erupted. Many individuals believed they heard fireworks. Some eventually took cover. Others jumped over obstacles and dashed, many holding toddlers.
Aside from gunshot wounds, several people were treated in hospitals for injuries sustained during the turmoil. Because so many personal belongings were left behind, police established a portal where people could search for what they had lost.
Two males at the event pounced on and apprehended someone brandishing a gun, though police have not confirmed whether this was one among the people arrested. Paul Contreras of Bellevue, Nebraska, claimed he heard a man call to stop someone and was able to tackle him from behind.
Contreras noted that the person he tackled had a gun, but he wasn’t sure if he had another hidden under a large jacket. Soon, another man joined Contreras. “We’re like, we’ve got to keep him down until law enforcement arrives.” Because, as much as we’re struggling to hold him down, he’s fighting to get up,” said Contreras, whose daughter captured it all on film for The Associated Press.
Trey Filter was the individual that helped Contreras out. He was with his family when he heard yelling, “Get him.” “We were like, ‘We got him,'” Filter, 40, of Wichita, Kansas, told AP. “I’ll never forget that. Then they began yelling, ‘There’s a gun!'”
The gun dropped near his wife, Casey Filter, who picked it up. The fleeing person was now under a dogpile. The shooting took place despite the presence of around 800 police officers in the neighbourhood, including those on top of surrounding structures, according to Mayor Quinton Lucas, who arrived with his wife and mother and fled for safety when the rounds were fired.
But he does not plan to cancel the forthcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade. “We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly, we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.
Taylor Swift, who is currently dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, donated $100,000 to Lopez-Galvan’s family. A GoFundMe page with the singer’s name had two $50,000 donations made under it on Friday.
Variety stated that Swift’s representative acknowledged the donations, and the posts were independently verified by The Associated Press. Kansas City has a long history of gun violence, and in 2020, it was one of nine cities targeted by the United States Justice Department in an effort to reduce violent crime.
In 2023, the city tied a record with 182 homicides, the majority of which used firearms. Lucas has joined mayors from throughout the country in advocating for new gun-violence-reduction policies, such as universal background checks.
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