Witnesses, including KSN crew, describe shooting after Kansas City Chiefs rally

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Witnesses have described the shooting that happened shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs parade and rally near Union Station in Kansas City Wednesday morning. The shooting fatally injured one person has left 22 others injured, according to the latest from the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.

KSN’s Sports Anchor and Reporter Asia Cymone Smith and Anchor and Reporter Jason Lamb spent Wednesday in Kansas City covering the parade and rally.

There were 800 police officers from the KCPD as well as from other agencies throughout the sea of red. Lamb says in his experience, things were calm until the end of the rally. He was headed from the east of the stadium to the west when the shots were fired.

“I personally did not hear any of the gunshots, but I did notice a rush of police running towards the west garage area. A commotion of some sort broke out there, as we heard, there were gunshots,” said Lamb.

Smith also saw a rush of people rushing east on Pershing Road away from the shooting in a panic while ambulances and snipers headed toward it.

Lamb says he saw victims on the ground, ones who were not shot, being rendered aid by the police.

“I saw people with tears in their eyes, people terrified, mothers grabbing their children and running up the hill and just getting the heck out of here,” said Lamb. “Truly a sad way to end what was a pretty glorious day up until the end of this big Super Bowl celebration here in Kansas City.”

Lamb said as a former resident of the Kansas City area, he is angry and embarrassed. Instead of covering celebrations for the Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVIII, he ended up covering a fatal shooting.

The KSN crew is safe.

Smith and Lamb talked to Alan and Donna Herren, two Kansas City residents who were at Union Station when the shots were fired. They also described their experience:

“We heard. I wanted to think it was fireworks, but it did sound like gunshots,” said Donna.

“Sounded like gunshots,” said Alan.

“So, we ran, and a man was yelling ‘Don’t run up the hill,’ so we, we went behind that freezer over there, the metal freezer and we hid,” said Donna.

“We hid,” said Alan.

“And all these little kids were crying. It was awful,” said Donna.

“Crying and with their moms, and they were crying, it was, it was horrible. It was horrible to see people go through this, you know,” said Alan. “And there were probably 12 to 20 shots, randomly. Pop, pop, pop, like that. Yeah, yeah, it was random shots, is what it was.”

“And the only thing, some other people said there was a man bleeding out over in that area, but I think there was also someone over there. So I’m not sure what, how it, how it flowed,” said Donna.

Another witness, Tabby Fey, who thinks she saw two of the suspects, shared her experience with the KSN crew:

“We saw, well, we heard like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and then people started running. And then we were right in front of it right there. And then the, people started running and the police, we saw two men, like they were dressed completely in black, and they ran past us, we were probably 5 feet away from them, police started running after them. And then we saw someone down in front of us on the ground getting ready to be in a stretcher,” said Fey. “I can’t believe that it happened here. I mean, we’ve never had an incident like this here at the parade like that.”

Reese Randall tells KSN she was near players getting interviewed when she heard a loud noise.

“We were right next to a staircase that was by like a metal fence blocking us from where the players and stuff would walk by. So a couple of them walked by just to get interviewed by the news and stuff for being Super Bowl champs, and then all of a sudden, there’s a staircase next to us, and we like a really loud sound coming from that. We were sure, it sounded like a gunshot but that wasn’t my first thought, I kind of thought maybe a firework to celebrate or something like that. But then everyone just dropped to the ground and we were surrounded by police officers and people to just check and make sure we were all OK and ask if we saw anything or saw someone that could be suspicious. But it was definitely scary, but they surrounded us to make sure that we were all OK first before they escorted us out of the area,” said Randall.

The Kansas City Chiefs have released a statement following the shooting:

We are truly saddened by the seneseless act of violence that occured outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally.

Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all of Kansas City.
We are in close communication with the Mayor’s Office as well as the Kansas City Police Department.

At this time, we have confirmed that all of our players, coaches, staff and their families are safe and accounted for.

We thank the local law enforcement officers and first responders who were on-scene to assist.”

Kansas City Chiefs

Click here for the latest coverage of the shooting.