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Paramedics at the parade site in Kansas City
Photo: Charlie Riedel / AP
The deadly shots during a parade celebrating the victory of the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl in the USA apparently have no terrorist background. According to police findings, there was an “argument between several people” before the shooting. This escalated. Two of the three suspects arrested were juveniles, said Kansas City, Missouri Police Chief Stacey Graves.
A 43-year-old woman was killed and more than 20 people were injured in the shooting during the celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs' football final victory. According to the local radio station, the dead woman was an employee and DJ. According to Children's Mercy Hospital, at least 11 children between the ages of six and 15 were among the injured. The police chief did not provide any further details about the motive.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday to celebrate their city's football team - and its fourth Super Bowl title. Players and coaches traveled in the parade on a red double-decker bus. Fans in red jerseys lined the streets and flocked to a rally in front of a train station at the end. According to police, just as the rally was over, shots were fired near the train station building. Chaos then broke out on the premises.
Television footage and video clips show people running in panic or throwing themselves to the ground while police with body armor and guns drawn made their way through the crowds. A young man who was with friends at the parade told the local newspaper The Kansas City Star that when he heard the shots, he jumped over a barrier to get to safety. "All I could think of was: Are my friends dead or not?"
Another eyewitness described to the US broadcaster CNN how he got himself and his daughter to safety. "I watched people get trampled," Manny Abarca said. He ran into a restaurant with his daughter and barricaded himself in the toilet. "It broke my heart to know that my daughter knew what was happening."
Gun violence is devastating in the United States. Deadly shootings and gun rampages are sadly part of everyday life. Firearms are easily available there and are widely circulated. Attacks with many victims regularly shock the country - for example at schools, supermarkets, nightclubs or at large events. But private disputes, police checks, disputes between criminals or gangs also end fatally far more often than in other countries because many people in the USA carry weapons with them.
mgo/AFP/dpa